Virtual Nightmare: Sword Art Online
by ZuttoAragi
Summary: Jude Mathis, a teen who loves programming, lives a simple life with his big sister after the loss of his parents. One day everything changes when a virus infects the world's first VRMMORPG, trapping him and countless players. Now stuck in a death game, can he and those he loves make it out in one piece? Or will the secret of his parents tear his world apart?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter I**

 **Hello and greetings to all! Yes, I have returned with yet another new story. I know, they just will not quit. This one, in case you had not notice, is Virtual Nightmare: Sword Art Online. It is a rather large crossover, mainly of Tales of Xillia (Sort of), Sword Art Online, Summer Wars, with a bit of Hyperdimension Neptunia, with a small dab of a few other series, though I cannot say what they are just yet. The main character is Jude Mathis, the hero of Tales of Xillia if you did not know, as has seemingly become normal for my stories as of late. And yes, it is a harem story, because aren't they all? Now Kirito does appear in the story, but I will say right now that he plays a very small part. And as you will see very soon, the story, while it has the same basic set up as SAO, it is very different. I would like to thank my coauthor Bakuto Masaki for his help in preparing this story, and for his continue help in writing it.** **I have not much else to say here besides hoping you all enjoy the story. With that said, it is time to move on to the main event.**

* * *

In a large, wood-paneled room, with a single door in the corner of the room, a small, blue end table to the right of it, a tall wardrobe to the right of that, a door leading to a restroom to the right of the wardrobe, on the corner of the next wall, an entertainment center with a television and several video games next to the door, with a long desk on the next wall, a computer and large monitor seated upon it, blocking the nearby window, with a bed next to it, a figure awoke groggily from the bed.

The figure was a young man with neck-length black hair and amber eyes wearing a set of plain, light blue pajamas.

Swiftly changing from the pajamas to a uniform with a blue and red blazer over a white shirt, long blue trousers, and brown shoes, he sighed as he walked through a large, extravagant home, that was devoid of activity but his own.

With a sigh, the young man muttered, "Huh… Another day. Better get ready and make breakfast."

Sitting at a long, dark brown, wooden table with many chairs, alone, the young man ate a simple breakfast as he noticed a note on the table.

"Sorry Jude, we've got some meetings out of town to take care of. We'll be away for a couple days. Love, your lovely aunts."

With a sigh, the young man, Jude, finished his breakfast and walked over to a simple altar with several small photos on it. Clasping his hands together, he prayed silently. "I'm off, Mom, Dad. I'll be back as soon as I can."

* * *

Jude stretched as he walked through a large gate leading into a multi-story, light grey school-building.

"Yo, Jude!" a young man with short black hair and dark grey eyes wearing the same uniform as Jude shouted as he ran up to the brunette teen.

Jude waved as the black-haired teen walked up to him. "Hey, Kazuto. How's it going?"

The black-haired teen, Kazuto shrugged in response. "Not too bad." With a light chuckle, he added, "Suguha's getting on my case about SAO though. You still have your profile from the Beta, right?"

Jude nodded with a smirk. "Of course I do. No way am I deleting it. I may not be able to use all the skills but it looks badass." ' _It's the only link I have to Dad,_ ' he thought with a small frown.

Kazuto smirked in response. "Right. It launches tomorrow. You ready?"

Jude nodded. "You know it. Can't let you have all the fun 'Kirito'."

Kazuto stiffened before flailing his arms nervously. "Sh – Shush! I don't want anyone here to find out about username."

"Relax. You're going to make a scene and make people curious if you do that."

Kazuto groaned heavily. "Geez… A – Anyway, did you join any of the guilds that popped up during the Beta?"

Jude nodded. "Yes. I joined one called Debauchery Tea Party."

Kazuto snickered lightly.

"Yeah, yeah. The guild master was really nice, though. Plus, they had a few members that were actually skilled programmers. We ended up creating a few AI partners to help the guild out."

"Right…" Kazuto noted, trying to hide his snicker. "Apparently Kayaba's going to be giving out some kind of gift to the Beta-testers. Any idea what it might be?"

Jude frowned lightly before hiding his expression. "I'm not sure really. Most likely unique skills or items if other MMORPGs are anything to go by."

Kazuto scratched his head lightly. "Well I'm not sure if that's a good measuring stick. I mean, this VRMMORPG doesn't even have magic."

"Fair enough."

Suddenly a loud bell rang throughout the school.

"Aw crap," Kazuto grumbled with worry, "let's get to class, quick!"

"R – Right!" Jude answered frantically as the two took off into the building. "Miss Presa will have our heads if we're late!"

* * *

As the duo rushed into class, a woman with long, light blonde hair that reached just past her waist, two long bangs hanging down, framing her face and pink eyes, wearing narrow white glasses, a long-sleeved, white, form-hugging blouse, a knee-length, dark blue pencil skirt, and red dress shoes turned to them with a frown. "Mathis, Kirigaya, you're late."

The duo paled with fear. "Ah crap…"

"Sorry, Miss Presa," Jude apologized.

Presa sighed and then motioned to the rest of the classroom. "Get to your seats. You'll be dealt with later."

"Y – Yes, ma'am," the two answered fearfully as they made their way to their seats.

Jude sat next to a teenage girl with short, curly, light brown hair and bright green eyes, wearing a white shirt with a red ribbon underneath a dark blue blazer with white stripes, a short, dark blue skirt with yellow buttons, brown indoor shoes, and long, white socks.

The girl leaned over with a slightly annoyed frown. "You were playing that game again, weren't you?"

Jude gulped slightly. "M – Morning, Leia."

Leia frowned at his attempted diversion before Presa smacked her ruler against the board, getting everyone's attention.

"No more talking," Presa ordered sternly.

* * *

The day passed swiftly enough until noon, lunch.

Jude and Kazuto both sighed in relief as the time came.

"Mathis," Presa suddenly interjected as she walked up to the duo, "I'd like you to stay for a moment. Kirigaya, I'll deal with you later."

"Right!" Kazuto answered excitedly before running off.

Jude twitched an eyebrow. "… Traitor…"

Presa folded her arms with a concerned frown as she turned to Jude.

Jude merely sighed heavily with resignation, prepared for the expected lecture.

Presa released an equally heavy sigh before her posture loosened as she picked up a paper from her desk. "Your grades have remained steadily in the higher rungs of the class, and despite your occasional tardiness, your attendance is near perfect."

Jude tilted his head with confusion and raised an eyebrow. "Umm… Is there a problem then, Miss Presa?"

"Yes. You understand that I'm the only one who knew about your father within this school, correct?"

"Yes…" Jude answered with a pained frown.

"Whether he told you or not, he entrusted me to watch over you as best I can after his passing along with those three aunts of yours. I will admit that I haven't done as well as I should have, and your social circle as a result has fallen. You spend all of your time out of school at home, holed up inside your house."

Jude flinched lightly. "Well… I…"

"I understand that you hurt, but you can't let it consume you like that. If you don't find an outlet, a way to handle the emotions, you're going to crash."

Jude tightened his fists slightly. "I – It's ok Miss Presa. I'm fine. Really."

"You say that, yet I know it's untrue. I'm not saying you're in danger, I just don't like seeing you pulling away from the world. Being smart is great, but if you become emotionally unstable as a result, you'll never be happy."

Jude stiffened slightly as she kissed him on the forehead lightly.

"Now, get going." With a smirk, she teased, "The others might get suspicious."

Jude, his face bright red, answered shakily, "O – Okay," before walking out of the classroom.

Presa sighed before pulling a small box out of her desk. "This might be the best way to get to help you Jude."

* * *

Jude sighed as he made his way down one of the school's many hallways when a figure suddenly tackled him from behind.

"C – Camilla!?" Jude exclaimed with a muffled yelp as he glanced behind him and saw a tall young woman with long, flowing, wavy lavender hair that reached just below her round bottom, her long bangs hanging down, covering her left eye, both being a deep purple, two more long sections hanging down, framing her face and ending around her very ample bosom, wearing the same uniform as Leia, except with a green ribbon around her collar.

The lavender-haired young woman, Camilla, giggled lightly in amusement before hugging Jude tighter. "I've been going crazy all day, wanting to see you, little brother."

"I – I see…" Jude grumbled lightly. "C – Can't… breathe…"

Camilla released him from her grasp, a playful smile still adorning her lips.

"Air!" Jude gasped as he stepped away from her. Jude sighed before turning to Camilla with a hint of irritation. "Why do you always do that?"

Camilla smirked before pulling his arm deeply between her bosom. "Is it wrong for a sister to show affection for her adorable little brother?"

"Given the kind of affection you tend to smother me with?" Jude deadpanned. "Maybe."

"You know," Kazuto noted as he approached with a slightly annoyed smirk, "this kinda pisses me off."

"And what is that?" Jude asked curiously.

"Not only do you live with your three smokin' hot aunts, you've also got a hot sister. You know most guys would kill to be in your position, right?"

Jude frowned and flinched slightly.

"Watch what you say," Camilla warned, her eyes narrowed with annoyance. "Or else."

"Uh, right, sorry…" Kazuto answered with confusion.

Camilla turned her attention back to Jude and smiled warmly as she grabbed one of his arms. "How about you and _I_ share lunch today, hm? I made your favorite, my darling little brother."

Jude, his face red with embarrassment as he felt the softness of Camilla's orbs on his arm, responded weakly, "Uh, sure."

Camilla smiled and pulled him down the hallway.

* * *

Later, as the day finally came to an end, Jude groaned as he put a hand over his abdomen. "Urgh… I'm so hungry…"

Kazuto raised an eyebrow curiously. "Uh… but it's only been a couple hours since we ate."

Jude stiffened and then laughed weakly, "U – Uh, yeah, right. I just, uh, had a… light lunch… that's all…"

"If you say so… But, at least classes are finally over for the day."

"Hey, Jude," Leia interjected as she walked up to him, "are you busy later?"

"Ye –" Jude began to respond, suddenly stopping as he noticed Leia's lips curl down slightly, and corrected, "No, I'm free."

"Great!" Leia said with a pleased smile.

* * *

Camilla frowned as she exited the building, seeing Jude and Leia walk out of the gate together. Furrowing her brow, she followed them out.

* * *

"So where we going?" Jude asked as he walked with Leia, unaware Camilla watching from nearby.

Leia turned to him and answered, "A friend and I are going to check out a new arcade, and I know how crazy you are about those video games."

Jude frowned playfully. "You made a friend outside of me?"

Leia whacked him on the back of the head, hard.

"Excuse me," Camilla suddenly interjected as she approached, a forced smile gracing her lips, "but what do you think you're doing to my darling little brother?"

Jude immediately turned to her and put his arms up defensively. "I – It's okay, Camilla, it's because I just made a stupid joke."

Leia folded her arms with an annoyed huff. "Insensitive more like."

"And what joke would that be?" Camilla questioned.

"Acting like he was surprised he's not my only friend. Can you believe that?!"

Camilla blinked in surprise. "You have other friends?"

"Uwah! You too!?"

"You never introduced Jude to any, so I thought he was your only one."

Leia sighed but then saw a figure approaching the trio and waved. "Ah, hey! Suguha!"

"Hey Leia!" Suguha, a teen with short black hair, cut straight along the back, dark grey, almost black, eyes, wearing a dark grey sailor-style sweater with a black collar on the shoulders, a yellow ribbon around the collar, a short, black, pleated miniskirt, knee-high dark blue socks, and black shoes, waved as she ran up to the trio, her sizable bosom shifting as she approached, causing Jude to gulp with mild embarrassment.

"Th – This is your friend…?" Jude asked weakly.

Suguha blinked as she looked at Jude curiously. "You're… Jude, right? I'm Suguha, Kazuto's little sister. In case you forgot, we met a couple times when you came to play games with him." Suguha snickered lightly and then pointed at Jude's hair, which was very messy. "You look a little weird with that messy hair though."

Jude and Camilla immediately stiffened.

"Wh – What…?" Jude asked weakly.

"Yeah," Leia remarked, "what'd you do to mess it up so badly?" Stopping momentarily to pat his hair down, Leia then stepped back and nodded as she admired her work. "There, much better."

Suguha nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Much cuter too."

Jude's face turned red with abashment. "Th – Thanks…"

Suguha nodded before turning to Camilla curiously. "Uh… who are you again…?"

Camilla smiled warmly and explained, "I'm Jude's loving big sister. Camilla."

Jude smiled as the two spoke before noticing their equally sized bosoms swaying next to each other, causing him to gulp as his face turned red.

"Ahem!" Leia interjected loudly as her eyebrows twitched angrily.

"H – Huh?" Jude stuttered before turning to her. "What, I wasn't staring at anything."

Camilla blinked curiously before smirking.

Leia grumbled in annoyance. "Come on, Perv, let's go."

"I – I'm not a pervert…" Jude argued weakly.

Camilla, however, huffed with irritation. "Do try and not insult my brother again."

Leia sighed heavily. ' _That idiot… always looking at those melons… Why can't he look at_ me _like that?_ ' Leia patted her chest curiously as the group walked. ' _… Maybe… I should get a boob job…_ '

Camilla glanced back at Leia curiously. She then glanced at Suguha to the side before her gaze moved down, prompting a confident smirk.

* * *

"Whoa…" Jude mumbled in disbelief as the group stood in front of the store, a large building with a white and red sign on the top, "this place is huge… How come I've never heard of it?"

"I don't know," Leia replied. "Lack of friends?"

Camilla immediately sent a glare to Leia's back the brunette could almost feel.

Shivering off the strange sensation, Leia continued, "Apparently it's some American company, GameShop."

"I see…" Jude uttered in surprise as the group entered the store and saw the vast collection of video games within. "Amazing… Man, they have a wide selection. A good amount of these games they don't sell in major stores anymore."

Leia chuckled lightly.

"I – It's incredible… I – Is this what heaven's like…?"

Camilla smirked as she squeezed his arm in her cleavage. "I'm fairly certain there are far better examples than this."

Jude gulped lightly, Leia responding with a suspicious glare. "C – Camilla," Jude interjected quietly, "we really shouldn't in public."

"Shouldn't what?" Camilla asked with a playful smirk. "Let your big sister hold your arm in public? I did it all the time when we were children."

"Yeah," Jude answered briskly, "when we were _children_ ," he added with emphasis.

Camilla sighed with defeat and released his arm. "So be it."

Suguha laughed lightly as she picked up one of the older games on the shelf. "I remember Niisan bought this for me when I was younger as one of my first games." With a regretful laugh, she added, "I broke it within a week."

"That's because you didn't know how to hold it properly," Jude rebuffed. "You needed to know how to take better care of your games too."

Suguha nodded as she turned to him. "I know. And it's easier to do now thanks to that big case you bought me."

Jude scratched the back of his head with a weak laugh. "Well, yeah… though it was mainly to stop Kazuto from biting my ears off"

Leia twitched an eyebrow and then stomped on the top of his foot, hard.

"Ow! What was that for Leia?!"

Suguha blinked and then turned to Jude in thought. "Sorry, what'd you say, Jude?"

Leia laughed unconvincingly. "Oh, nothing. Just ignore this idiot."

Suguha tilted her head curiously. "Okay…?"

Camilla twitched an eyebrow, restraining herself from strangling Leia.

Leia sighed and then leaned close to Jude, annoyed, and whispered, "The hell are you doing, stupid?!"

Jude blinked in confusion, surprise, and pain at Leia's sudden and unexpected actions. "Wh – What…?"

"When you get a gift for a girl, you don't say it's because of someone else! You make it seem like you got it specifically for her!"

"H – Huh…? O – Okay…"

"Now, let's find something to buy!"

Camilla hummed in thought before wrapping her arms around one of Jude's. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Come with me my Darling."

"H – Hey! Jude! Come back here!"

"Huh…" Suguha muttered in thought as she observed the duo.

* * *

Camilla smiled widely as she held several games marked "R-18". ' _These should help my darling little brother._ '

Jude, his face red with embarrassment, sighed heavily as he walked next to Camilla. ' _Of all the genres she could pick from… Why Eroge…?_ '

"Have you gotten all that you want, Darling?" Camilla asked with a smile.

"Huh?" Jude mumbled as her turned to her. "Uh, yeah, I…" he trailed off as he saw a card on the wall, selling a download for SAO.

"Ah!" Camilla suddenly muttered loudly before grabbing one of the cards. "Can't forget this."

Jude raised an eyebrow curiously. "Don't you already have one?"

"Hm?" she hummed as she turned to him. "No. I wasn't involved with the Beta."

"Really? Huh, didn't know that." As they approached the front of the store, Jude noticed Leia at the checkout counter. "What'cha got there, Leia?"

Leia stumbled in surprise, fumbling an item in her grasp, before hiding it behind her and laughing weakly. "U – Uh, I, uh… n – nothing! It's nothing!"

Jude raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Uh, okay?"

Camilla blinked curiously and then smirked.

* * *

Later, Jude and Camilla made their way home, Camilla hanging off of his arm as usual.

Jude sighed and looked at her, asking weakly, "Do you have to hang on me like that…?"

Camilla smiled as she hugged his arm tighter. "I don't see the problem. No one sees us."

"Yeah but… what if someone does?"

Smirking playfully, Camilla rebutted, "I tripped."

Jude sighed in defeat. "Okay."

The duo walked into the house and were greeted by a tall man with long, mid-back length grey hair that was pulled back in a long ponytail and brown eyes with significant wrinkles around them, along with a thin beard and mustache wearing a pair of thin, black-framed glasses, and a long, black and white butler uniform.

Bowing, the man greeted, "Welcome home, sir, madam."

"Oh," Jude muttered in slight surprise, "hey Rowen. How've you been doing today?"

Rowen smiled and answered happily, "Quite fine, sir. Do you need of me today, sir?"

Jude shook his head in response. "No thanks, I'm just going to do some of the work Ms. Presa gave me before getting online."

"Dinner would be nice though," Camilla interjected.

Rowen nodded in understanding. "I will get started immediately, then, madam."

Camilla then began pushing Jude from behind, deeper into the house. "Now, Darling, let's go do our homework." With a sly smirk, she added, "Then we can do some _homework._ '

Jude's face turned bright red with embarrassment.

* * *

Later on, Jude sighed as he leaned back from his desk with a light sigh. "There… homework's all done… Now then… To get online."

However, before he could, Camilla suddenly hugged him from behind and held her SAO card out in front of his face. "Not just yet."

Jude gulped slightly, feeling the softness of her orbs against his head. "H – Huh…?"

"I need you to help me get this running on my machine. Of course, if you'd rather do someone else first, I don't mind."

Jude stiffened and replied, "L – Let's get you set up, Camilla."

Camilla responded with a faux pout. "Aw."

Jude gulped heavily. "M – Maybe later."

"Fufu."

* * *

"There," Jude noted as he stood up from Camilla's computer. "All set."

Camilla wrapped her arms around his shoulders and planted her lips on his for several seconds before pulling away slightly. "Thank you, Darling."

Jude nodded with a blush before he saw Camilla pick something up from her bed.

Holding a large, grey helmet with a dark grey visor, Camilla commented, "You still need to help me set up the Nerve Gear though."

Jude's face reddened slightly more as he nodded. "O – Okay. Put it on and I'll start it up."

Camilla responded by beginning to undo the buttons on her blouse.

"N – No need to get naked!" Jude argued as he covered his eyes.

Camilla smirked slyly. "But won't it read my body better if it's all in the open?"

His eyes still covered, Jude rebutted, "Th – There's no difference!"

Camilla giggled with amusement as she put a finger on his chin. "Fufu, you're so cute, my darling little brother."

Jude's blush increased even further.

Putting the NerveGear on her head, Camilla remarked, "It's alright, you can open your eyes now."

Jude did and nodded slightly. "Okay, I – I'll get it set up…" He then went to the computer and plugged several wires from the NerveGear into the machine.

* * *

Back in his own room, Jude put his own NerveGear on and laid down in his bed. "Link Start!"

* * *

Inside of a large, medieval town with stone buildings and cobblestone paths, man with knee-length, dark brown hair, two bangs framing his face, and blue eyes wearing a dark grey shirt under a knee-length blue coat with a purple border, black pants with blue lines up the front, and matching boots appeared in a flash of light.

Looking around in thought, the man smirked. "So my character of Sergio's still in the system. Perfect." He then looked around as more and more people began appearing flashes of light around him and chuckled lightly. "Looks like I wasn't the only one who preordered. Now then… where's Sis…?" However, the man's questions were halted when he heard a loud dinging sound. Swiping his hand down, a series of grey circles appeared in the air, one of which was flashing. Pressing it, another, larger screen opened showing he had received a message. "A message, huh?" Opening the message, he read the contents aloud in thought. "For your participation in the SAO Beta-Test, you have received the gift of a random Buddy to act as your AI companion in your adventures." Sergio raised an eyebrow curiously. "Partner…? That's new. Wonder what it is. Hhmm… I don't like this crowd…"

* * *

After walking down an alley, Sergio pressed a button inside the message, causing an orb of light to emerge from his menu, flutter around him for a moment, and then land in front of him before bursting with light.

As the light died down, Sergio saw a young-looking woman with long, straight, waist-length, bright red hair, amber eyes with slitted pupils, and large, red, pointed, scaly ears with scales going down the sides of her face, as well as a very sizable bust, and below her waist, rather than legs, she had an extremely long, red, scaly, snake-tail.

Sergio blinked in bewilderment. "U – Uuhh… This… is my Partner…?"

The snake-like woman smiled brightly and asked, "Are you the one who summoned me?"

Sergio nodded dumbly as he looked her over. "Y – Yeah…"

She then immediately tackled Sergio into a powerful hug, wrapping her long tail around him affectionately. "Darling!"

"Grah!" Sergio grunted as she tackled him. "T – Too… tight… S – Stop… you're going… to kill me…"

However, before the woman could succeed in that venture, she was struck from behind and fell to the ground. "Gah!" she gasped and hissed as she uncoiled from Sergio.

Sergio coughed before standing. When he did, he saw a beautiful young woman with long, wavy, scarlet red hair that reached her waist, her bangs hanging down, covering one eye and framing her face, with its dark brown eyes, wearing a purple scarf around her neck, a very revealing, black, halter-type breastplate that revealed a large portion of her generous cleavage, shoulder-length black gauntlets, matching, thigh-high greaves with purple stockings underneath, and a black bikini bottom with a brown belt holding up a piece of white cloth held loosely around her waist. On her back was a long, plain ax.

Sergio gaped slightly as he saw the red-haired woman before him. "Wh – Whoa… hot…"

The red-haired woman smirked and replied, "Why thank you, Darling."

Sergio blinked in confusion. "… Sis…?"

With a smirk, she did a single twirl, allowing Sergio to see her entirely before stopping with a clang as her greave tapped the ground. "What do you think? I call this character Knightwalker."

Looking her over once, Sergio commented, "I've gotta admit, she's hot but not as hot as you really are."

"Oh?" she responded as she sauntered close to him. "I think I can come to like this more confident version of you."

"You do, huh?"

"Hey!" Sergio's Partner snarled as she moved between the two, glaring at Knightwalker. "Stop hogging Darling!"

Knightwalker huffed in annoyance. "He's _my_ Darling first. So can hog him as much as I like." Leaning to the side to see Sergio, she added, "Isn't that right, Darling?"

Sergio shrugged with a smirk. "I'd say there's enough of me to go around."

"I know there is, Darling. But I want as much as possible when I'm near you…"

The snake woman puffed her cheeks in annoyance.

Sergio chuckled before turning to her. "Sorry about this. Actually, I don't think I got your name."

She turned to him and then smiled happily. "I'm Miia, your AI Partner. I'll be with you as you try to conquer Aincrad!"

Sergio grinned happily. "Good to know." Frowning slightly, he muttered in his head, ' _Hhmm… this AI is incredibly lifelike. She reminds me of…_ '

"Aw," Knightwalker pouted, "I don't have one…"

"Only Beta-Testers get them."

Knightwalker pouted with annoyance.

Turning back to Miia, Sergio asked, "So, Miia, what can you do?"

Smiling happily, Miia answered, "I can carry your things, fight alongside you, help gather stuff for you, cook, and sleep with you!"

"S – Sleep with me!?"

"Okay!" Miia cheered before preparing to leap at him, Knightwalker stopping her by grabbing her collar.

"Oh no you don't," Knightwalker argued. "Darling barely even knows you."

Sergio coughed lightly and redirected, "So, is there a limit to how many Partners I can have?"

Miia pouted sadly and asked, worriedly, "Am I… not good enough for you, Darling?"

' _C – Cute…_ ' Shaking his head vigorously, Sergio argued, "N – No it's not that! I was just curious."

Miia blinked in thought. "O – Oh… Erm, well if you need, you can have up to three Partners with you. Of course, we don't count towards your Party count, so you still need more players if you're going after a quest that requires a certain Party size."

"I see. Good to know."

"So, what's first, Darling? Are we going to go shopping? Or go on a quest? Form a party? Or… do you want…" she trailed off as she raised the small skirt wrapping around her waist slightly, "me?"

"Uuhh…"

Knightwalker then pinched one of Miia's ears roughly. "No."

"Owie, owie!" Miia shrieked in pain. "That hurts!"

Sergio sighed in exasperation.

* * *

As Sergio, Miia, and Knightwalker walked through the game's starting location, the Town of Beginnings, Sergio suddenly heard a familiar voice call to him.

"Yo, Sergio!"

Turning to the voice, Sergio saw a young man with short, messy black hair that was combed back, dark grey eyes, and a plain blue and light grey outfit. Grinning, Sergio replied, "Hey, Kirito! You really should've picked an avatar that doesn't look so much like you really do."

Knightwalker narrowed her eyes and turned to Sergio questioningly. "Who's this?"

"Huh? Oh, it's just Kazuto."

Kirito flinched. "H – Hey! You're not supposed to use real names, remember?"

"So? Anyway, how're you handling the actual game?"

Kirito sighed and then shrugged. "Pretty good, I guess." He then glanced to the side and saw Miia. "Got your Partner, huh?"

Sergio nodded in response. "Yeah. A Lamia. She's… odd. Thinking of finding or forging her some armor and weapon."

Miia then squealed happily. "Really?! I'm going to get a present from Darling!?"

Sergio chuckled and motioned to her. "See what I mean?"

Kirito laughed lightly. "Yeah, I do."

"So where's yours?"

Kirito shrugged lightly. "You know me, dedicated soloist. I was thinking of giving it to you instead." With a sarcastic smirk, he added, "You probably need it more than I do anyway."

Sergio huffed lightly. "Really? Sure you won't end up falling off a cliff without it?"

Kirito smirked and opened his menu, forwarding the Partner message to Sergio. "Here, I probably wouldn't know what to do with it anyway."

"Hhmm…" Sergio hummed in thought before smirking. "Actually, I have a better idea."

Knightwalker then blinked as she heard a ding. Opening her menu, she found the Partner message forwarded to her. "You're giving it to me?"

"Of course I am."

Knightwalker opened the gift, causing an orb of light to appear from her menu, flutter around her, and then burst brightly. As the light died down, the group saw a young-looking woman with fair skin, long, knee-length silver hair, and bright red eyes, she also a pair of large, red, reptilian wings on her back, a long, scaled tail protruding from just above her round bottom, two large, pointed, red horns atop her head, and red scales covering the majority of her arms, she also wore a very revealing, short, red and black dress that exposed much of her sizable bust, much of her firm abdomen, and had a very short, pleated skirt, thigh-high stockings, and knee-high greaves.

"… Whoa…" Sergio muttered in surprise.

"Which of you is it that summoned me?" the draconic woman asked.

Knightwalker immediately pointed at Sergio.

"Eehh?!" Sergio shouted in confusion. "No I didn't!" Pointing at Knightwalker, he rebutted, "She did."

The dragon-woman growled in annoyance.

"Wh – What…?"

"Just tell me who I am to be the Partner of," the woman insisted. "I have had enough of this foolishness."

Knightwalker pointed to Sergio once again, eliciting an annoyed sigh from him.

The woman turned to Sergio with a graceful smile and greeted, "My name is Horo and I am your –" she then stopped suddenly when she saw Miia.

Miia twitched an eyebrow and immediately coiled her tail around Sergio. "Mine!"

"Can't… breathe…" Sergio grumbled.

Horo then growled and grabbed Miia with her powerful, clawed hands. "Release him, snake!"

"He's _my_ Darling!" Miia argued pettily.

Kirito merely laughed in mild amusement.

"Shall I stun you again, serpent?" Knightwalker threatened.

Miia pouted and uncurled from Sergio.

Horo sighed and then turned to Sergio. "You seem somewhat surprised by my appearance."

"Of course," Sergio answered. "Two random Partners and both happen to be hot, human-animal hybrids."

"How is that surprising?"

"All Partners are like us," Miia and Horo answered in unison.

Sergio twitched an eyebrow in annoyance. "… I think the old man's a pervert…"

Kirito, however, stumbled back, laughing extremely hard. "Wow! Good luck with that, man!"

Sergio pointed at Kirito and scowled, snarling, "Screw you!"

Horo then folded her arms in thought. "Now… how should I address you? Perhaps Master?"

Sergio's face turned minutely red before he rebutted, "J – Just Sergio's fine."

Horo nodded with a slight pout. She then turned to the side and noticed Kirito. "Who the hell are you?"

"Ah," Kirito muttered. "Kirito, friend of Sergio's."

Horo paled slightly. "Y – You're a… player…?" Her face then turned as red as her scales before she began spewing fire from her mouth at Kirito. "Don't look at me!"

Kirito paled and ran, fleeing from Horo's attacks. "Wh – What the hell?! This is supposed to be a safe zone! You shouldn't be able to attack me!"

Sergio chuckled lightly. "I think the power of Tsun transcends safe zones."

Knightwalker snickered in amusement.

* * *

Shortly later, Kirito laid in a heap, Horo standing over him with her arms folded, digging her heel onto his head. "Repent for your foul actions, accursed human. And never speak of what you saw to anyone or face the wrath of a dragon."

"R – Right…" Kirito answered weakly.

Sergio put a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Horo, let up. Besides, it's your own fault for not realizing he was there."

Horo sighed in resignation. "Very well."

"Hey, I have an idea, how about we head out and do a few quests?"

"Sounds like a plan to me," Knightwalker answered.

* * *

The group stood in front of a large, holographic panel as Kirito swiped through several menus. "Okay… so… ah, here we go. How about this one? It's a quest to gather some herbs in a meadow surrounded by monsters."

Sergio nodded in agreement. "Sounds good to me. Something simple to see if the game made any major differences with the Quest system."

* * *

Eventually, the group followed the directions of the quest and found themselves in a large, open field. "Huh. The Meadow hasn't changed much," Sergio commented in thought.

"Seems like it," Kirito noted.

"What are you looking for again?" Horo questioned.

"Just a few herbs for this question," Sergio explained. "Make sure to grab a few extra for us. They're good for brewing potions and poisons."

Miia then interjected by tapping Sergio's shoulder with her tail.

"Yeah, Miia?"

Miia then pointed to a group of large, reptilian creatures with grey skin on the backs of their heads. "What are those?"

Sergio looked at the creatures curiously. "Aptonoths. Low-level monsters. Not really dangerous unless you go after them first."

Horo drooled slightly. "They look tasty…"

Sergio glanced at Kirito curiously before smirking. "Ah, what the hell. I could use some XP. You?"

Kirito grinned and drew his sword. "You know it."

Horo then crouched down, preparing to launch herself into the air, only to be interjected as Miia threw a rock at the creatures.

"Really? A rock?"

As if in response, one of the Aptonoths growled when the rock hit it on the head. The beast then roared and began to charge.

"Here it comes!" Sergio announced as he readied his fists. "Get ready!"

Horo smirked and readied her claws. "Allow me to –!"

However, before she could finish her sentence, Miia suddenly surged forward, coiled her tail around the Aptonoth's neck, and twisted, snapping its neck and draining the beast's health in one strike.

Horo twitched an eyebrow angrily. "You petulant serpent! I was about to show Sergio my grace and power by slaying that beast!"

Miia hissed in indignation. "Hey! I'm not petulant you bloated lizard!"

Horo's face immediately turned the same color as her scales with embarrassment and irritation. "B – Bloated!? Why you –! I'll have you know that my breasts are a sign of nobility and maturity!"

"Bbllooaatteedd!" Miia taunted.

"Why… you…!" Horo then smirked darkly and grabbed the tip of Miia's tail tightly.

"Kya!" Miia shrieked loudly before trembling. "S – Stop that…!"

"Someone mind telling me what's going on here?" Sergio muttered in confusion.

"No clue…" Kirito mumbled. With a sigh, Kirito then patted Sergio's back. "Good luck man. You're gonna need it."

Sergio groaned heavily. "Go get eaten by a slime."

Knightwalker chuckled lightly as she rested her chin on his shoulder lightly. "Yes, I think I'm going to like this spicier version of you. Now if only you'd be like this in real life. I'm sure our love life would be much better."

Kirito merely stared suspiciously.

"What?"

"Oh nothing," Kirito replied plainly. "I'm just wondering what Ms. Presa and Leia would think about this."

Sergio shivered lightly in fear. "Good thing they aren't gamers. Otherwise they'd be stumbling through everything."

The group's attention was then distracted by a loud scream.

The group immediately ran towards the scream and saw a woman with long, wavy blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin wearing a generic purple and pink outfit that hugged her curvaceous body, fighting an Aptonoth weakly.

"Wow…" Sergio muttered in unimpressed shock. "Just, wow…"

"Pathetic," Horo chided.

Kirito and Sergio both watched silently as the woman flailed helplessly with the creature, her bosom swaying in many directions.

Kirito gulped slightly and mentioned, "You know… I don't really know what Kayaba was thinking when he made this game, but… he sure added some… detailed physics, eh…"

"He made it as realistic as possible," Sergio noted. "Besides, who doesn't love jiggle physics?"

Knightwalker glanced down and hopped up and down slightly.

Sergio glanced at her momentarily and then licked his lips.

"Fufu, want some?"

Sergio shrugged. "Can't. Ethics code is on."

"Then turn it off."

Kirito then tapped Sergio's shoulder. "Oh boy, she's got more coming after her. Maybe… we should give her a hand."

"Way ahead of ya!" Sergio rebutted with a smirk.

The blonde woman sighed before seeing more of the creatures approaching her. ' _Uh-oh… When I bought this, I didn't expect all of the sensations to be so… real…_ ' She paled as the creatures then charged.

Sergio immediately launched at one of the Aptonoths, smashing its head into the ground with his fists, as Knightwalker struck the other with her spear.

Sergio sighed and then turned to the blonde with a smirk. "That was a close one, huh? You alright Newbie?"

"Y – Yeah…" she answered weakly. "Wh – What was that thing?"

"Aptonoth," Kirito explained as he walked up to the others. "They're the starting enemy in this game. Hopefully you didn't have too much trouble. They're the weakest monster in the game."

The blonde paled in disbelief. "WHAT?!"

Sergio raised an eyebrow curiously. "Is this your first VRMMO?"

Slumping in distress, she answered weakly, "This is my first video game. Ever…"

"Ah…" Sergio muttered in disbelief. "Well… I guess we can give you a hand."

"Uh, thanks…"

Sergio nodded in return before asking, "So what's your name? I'm Sergio."

"Huh? Oh, I'm uh…" looking around for a moment she then answered, "Jill."

"Ah, nice name."

Jill's cheeks turned slightly red before she sighed. "Thanks… but I think I'm finished…"

Sergio shook his head and helped her stand. "No you're not. You're just not used to things yet. There IS more to SAO then straight out fighting miss."

Jill looked at him surprised and confused. "Really? But I thought all RPGs were about fighting to level up, or something."

"Most, yes, but SAO is a little different. You… _did_ read the manual, right?"

Jill laughed weakly before slumping her shoulders. "Uhh… A tiny bit… enough to know how to start the equipment…"

Sergio sighed and slapped a hand over his face with exasperation. "Oh brother…"

Jill blinked curiously before furrowing her brow. ' _That voice… Is he… Jude…?_ '

Kirito just laughed lightly in amusement.

After sighing, Sergio then chuckled lightly with a smirk. "Okay, how about this? I'll give you a basic rundown of the mechanics."

Jill nodded appreciatively before a small smile formed on her lips. ' _He's so different here. His mannerisms, the way he talks. He's more… confident._ '

Knightwalker sighed lightly with exasperation. "Are you going to help every newbie we come across, Darling?"

Sergio smirked. "Just the pretty ones, Knightwalker." Turning back to Jill, he then remarked in thought, "Now first up we need to find out what kind of weapon fits you best. By your looks I'd say a dagger and throwing weapons. Meaning with the proper leveling in the right areas you'd be a great stealth-based player, hitting the enemy before they can even see you. This is just combat-wise, of course. Me personally I equip a set of heavy gauntlets on my hands and punch the enemy, using the metals of the gauntlet to add to the power of each strike."

Jill hummed in thought as she considered Sergio's words.

"Next is stats. In my case, Strength, Endurance, Agility, all those stats are what I increased to make me able to hit harder and take more hits effectively. You'd probably want to focus on Perception, Intelligence, and Agility. And of course, combat isn't the only option."

Jill raised an eyebrow in confusion. "It's not?"

Sergio nodded in response. "There are hundreds of different aptitudes. There isn't an actual class-system, instead you just pick the skills that best fit what you do. Sure, you can be an adventurer who goes around slaying monsters to reach the max level, but you can also be an innkeeper, a blacksmith, an info merchant, a shopkeeper, just about anything you can think of for real life. There are… other things you can do but those are best ignored."

"Impressive…"

Sergio nodded with a proud smirk. "Yup. And another thing you should know is that the things you can make if you're the crafting type is truly limited to your knowledge of real world principles."

Jill sighed in amazement as she attempted to process all of the new information. "I see. The world of this game is quite robust."

Sergio grinned happily. "Yep! Which is why people love it!"

Kirito then interjected, tapping Sergio's shoulder.

"What?" Sergio asked, perturbed at the interruption.

Kirito pointed to an arguing Horo and Miia. "Oh, nothing, just that Miia and Horo are fighting again."

Sergio slapped a hand over his face with a heavy groan. "Ah dammit. I'd better go stop them."

Jill watched him as he tried to break up the fight and smiled lightly. ' _He truly is a different person here._ ' She then frowned slightly with concern. ' _If only he would be more like that in his real life…_ '

Knightwalker sighed slightly.

Kirito then turned to Jill in thought before pointing near her. "You've got another one coming at you."

Jill flinched and then turned and paled as another Aptonoth charged at her.

* * *

After spending several hours training with Jill, Sergio sighed as he looked around before turning to her. "Right, well I don't know about you, Jill, but it's getting late where I live, so I need to head out."

Jill blinked curiously before nodding. "Huh? Oh, sure. Thank you for helping me today. I'll see you tomorrow."

Kirito nodded in agreement. "Yeah, don't wanna show up late again, Ms. Presa might kill us if we do."

Sergio chuckled lightly. "Now, now. She isn't all _that_ bad. She can be nice too. I know her ass is."

Jill's face turned bright red. ' _H – He likes my ass…?_ '

Sergio then turned to Horo and Miia. "Right. Hey, Miia, Horo, let's head back to the Town of Beginnings. Then I need to log out."

Horo nodded in understanding.

"Aaww, Darling…!" Miia pouted loudly. "Don't go!" Miia added, wrapping around him.

"H – Hey…!" Sergio groaned as she tightened around him. "I'll be back tomorrow, so don't worry. I need to be so I can help my new friend here learn how to survive in the game."

Miia pouted once more.

* * *

Jude sighed as he walked into the classroom, almost immediately noticing Leia yawning heavily. "Leia?"

Leia stiffened and then turned to him in surprise. "U – Uh, yeah…?"

"Why do you look so tired?" Jude asked as he sat down.

"Uuhh… Movies! I stayed up all night watching movies!"

Jude raised an intrigued eyebrow. "Really? What kind?"

Leia twitched an eyebrow. "Uuhh… you know… good ones…"

Jude furrowed his brow suspiciously. "That's not an answer."

"Uuhh…" Leia then turned in relieved surprise. "Ah, hey! Natsuki!"

Jude twitched an eyebrow at Leia's redirection but then turned to look at Natsuki, a young woman with long, straight, waist-length, dark blue hair, plain brown eyes, wearing the same uniform as Leia and the other girls. Blinking in thought, Jude turned to Leia. "Huh… another friend you never introduced me to?"

Leia huffed lightly. "Considering who she is, I shouldn't need to."

Jude tilted his head curiously. "What do you mean?"

"You dummy, she's the granddaughter of the matriarch of the Jinnouchi clan!"

"Jinnouchi… nope. Doesn't ring a bell."

Natsuki laughed lightly, waving a hand dismissively. "It's okay, Leia. I prefer meeting people without my family's baggage hanging over me."

"Family baggage, huh?" Jude sighed and added under his breath, "I can relate to that…"

Natsuki then turned to Jude and extended a hand out. "I'm Natsuki Shinohara. Usually I sit in the opposite corner of the class to you, so it's no surprise you don't know who I am."

"Ah, I see. Well I'm Jude Mathis. Nice to meet you."

Natsuki nodded. "Same to you. So, Mathis, do you have any hobbies?"

Jude nodded in return. "Yeah. Gaming and anime mostly. And… designing things, I guess you could say."

"Really?" Natsuki asked, excitedly.

"Um, yeah."

"Have you had a chance to play that new game, SAO, yet?"

Jude smirked and nodded. "Of course I have!"

Natsuki smiled with a light pout. "I'm actually kind of jealous. I didn't get the chance to buy one of the early release copies, plus I've been pretty busy lately. How is it?"

"Amazing, naturally. The graphics and environments are incredibly realistic, as are the game's mechanics. Like using weapons, if you're good with a type of weapon in real life you can use that skill and knowledge in the game."

"Wow…"

Jude nodded. "Yeah, impressive."

Natsuki then blinked in thought. "Wait… you're _that_ Jude, aren't you?"

Jude's eyes widened slightly, though he managed to hide his surprise and worry. "H – Huh? What do you mean?"

Leia immediately slapped a hand over Natsuki's mouth with a weak laugh. "I – It's nothing."

Jude sighed slightly in relief when Presa walked into the room, ordering everyone to their seats as usual. Jude did notice, that as she walked by his desk, her hips swayed slightly more than usual, eliciting a gulp in the young man.

Presa smirked slightly before taking her position at the front of the class.

Jude groaned slightly.

"Somethin' wrong?" Kazuto asked curiously.

Jude nodded. "Yeah… Ms. Presa swaying her hips like that…"

"Yeah… she has been acting a little strange today."

"A little? I could almost swear she was trying to tempt me…"

Kazuto snickered lightly. "What makes you think it's directed at you?"

Jude stiffened and then sighed heavily. "Good point…"

As Presa sat at her desk, her pen snapped in her hand. ' _Kirigaya… I'll make you pay for that…_ '

* * *

Later that day, Jude, Camilla, Natsuki, Leia, and Kazuto ate lunch together, Camilla visibly annoyed, when Kazuto mentioned, "Hey, did Ms. Presa seem a little different today?"

Leia took a bite of her sandwich and asked, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know. She seemed… excited maybe?"

Natsuki then noted, "Maybe she got laid?"

Jude spat his drink in shock. "Sh – Shinohara!"

Kazuto could not suppress a snicker at Jude's reaction, eliciting a glare from his brown-haired friend.

Leia raised an eyebrow and added, "Maybe she got back together with that guy she was seeing?"

Jude hissed angrily at the thought of the man in question. "Tch, that guy's a scumbag. And not worth her time. She deserves someone far better than him."

Camilla smirked knowingly as Natsuki and Leia sent him matching expressions.

"Wh – What…?" he wondered at their expressions.

"You've got the hots for Ms. Presa, don'tcha?" Natsuki asked with a playful grin.

Jude's face turned a very deep crimson. "Wh – What?!"

Natsuki shrugged in acknowledgement. "Well, I can understand why. She's got a mature air about her, has a sort of motherly authority, and of course those breasts of hers will get any man."

Leia pouted in annoyance and glanced to the side, muttering, "B – Boobs aren't everything…"

* * *

Jude sighed as the daily classes came to an end. "Man this day is long…"

"Well tonight will be fun, eh?" Kazuto interjected before grinning. "Maybe we'll meet that cute newbie again."

Jude nodded lightly. "M – Maybe. I did promise to help her get used to the game."

* * *

As Jude and Camilla walked home, Camilla noticed Jude release a heavy sigh. "What's wrong, Darling?" she asked with concern as she looked at him.

"I'm just wondering what's up with Ms. Presa…" he noted with confusion.

Camilla shrugged with a smirk. "Well maybe you'll find out some day. Now, let's get home and get our work done so we can have some fun. And play that game some more of course."

* * *

After completing their homework for the day, Jude made his way to his room and started up SAO once more. "Right, time to log on." ' _Wonder if I'll see that cute newbie again?_ ' "Well, only one way to find out."

* * *

Sergio sat up in a small inn and saw Horo and Miia lying beside him.

He chuckled as he sat up, patting their heads to wake them.

Miia sat up with a heavy yawn before seeing Sergio. "Darling!" she exclaimed before tackling him to the ground with a hug.

"M – Miia…" he groaned in pain. "M – My… HP…"

Miia immediately jumped off of him with an ashamed pout. "S – Sorry, Darling…"

Sergio sighed as he stood. "It's okay. Good morning, I guess, Miia."

Horo then tapped his head with her tail, causing him to turn around. "Don't forget to say hello to me…"

Sergio chuckled lightly as he patted her head. "Sorry 'bout that, Horo."

The door then opened as Knightwalker entered the room, her spear on her back. "So, ready to head out for today?"

Sergio nodded with a smirk. "You bet your tight ass I am."

Knightwalker smirked before blinking in thought. "That reminds me, we haven't done it there for a while."

"We haven't?"

Sergio's two Partners looked at each other, befuddled.

* * *

As the group made their way around the Town of Beginnings, Sergio looked at the various shops, growing more and more frustrated as time went by.

"What's bothering you, Sergio?" Horo asked as she walked next to him.

With a sigh, he answered, "There's not a single shop here that sells throwing knives."

Horo blinked in thought. "Didn't you know?"

"Know what?"

"After complaints during the Beta, throwing knives are now a standard, unlimited weapon all players have."

Sergio blinked and then opened a menu before going through his various equipment items. Sure enough, throwing knives were present. "Well that's… new… And breaks the realism a little." Sergio's attention was then taken when a loud ding came from his menu. "Huh? A message? This one's from Jill."

Knightwalker sighed in mild annoyance. "Oh."

Sergio glanced at her. "Something wrong?"

"No. Let's go."

Sergio frowned suspiciously. "She's waiting for us in the town square. Let's head there now."

* * *

 **And end! That brings the first chapter of Virtual Nightmare: Sword Art Online to an end. Hopefully everyone enjoyed the chapter. Be sure to post a review if you did. Go ahead and leave a review if you were confused or unsure about anything, or if you simply have some questions about the story. I will do what I can to address them in a reviewer response. If you did not enjoy the chapter, post a review if you must, but keep it civil and not merely flaming, though I would suggest you instead find something you enjoy rather than wasting time on something you do not. Well I have nothing else to add, so until the next chapter, bye-bye!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter II**

 **Hello and greetings to all! I have arrived with another chapter of Virtual Nightmare: Sword Art Online. I hope everyone enjoyed the previous chapter, at least a few of you seem to have enjoyed it. I also hope you all enjoy this chapter, and be sure to post a review if you do. At any rate, I would like to thank my coauthor, Bakuto Masaki for all of his help in my stories, past, present, and future, hopefully. Now, with the formalities out of the way, we may as well move on to the reviewer responses, few as there may be.**

 **JMK2: Glad you love it! Oh boy. That's going to be a little more taxing than you would think. I will do my best, though. And yeah, I do pull from a lot of sources.**

 **Tales of Xillia:**

 **Jude Mathis**

 **Presa**

 **Leia Rolando**

 **Rowen Ilbert**

 **Daily Life with a Monster Girl:**

 **Miia**

 **Horo**

 **Sword Art Online:**

 **Kazuto Kirigaya (With Kirito being his avatar)**

 **Suguha Kirigaya**

 **Fire Emblem Fates:**

 **Camilla Nohr**

 **Brave Frontier:**

 **Sergio (Jude's avatar)**

 **Fairy Tail:**

 **Erza Knightwalker (Camilla's avatar)**

 **Summer Wars:**

 **Natsuki Shinohara**

 **Sekirei:**

 **Toyotama**

 **I believe that covers all of the named characters who appeared in the first chapter, minus Jill, who is just something I came up with.**

 **guest: As mentioned above, Horo is from Daily Life With a Monster Girl.**

 **Zant's Minion: Well you're certainly energetic. Thank you. Well this should give you an idea of how it goes.**

 **Phew, that was quite the reviewer response. Not many reviews to respond to but still a lengthy one. With that out of the way, we may as well move on to the main reason you all came here.**

* * *

Sergio, Knightwalker, Jill, Miia, and Horo were in a field, performing another quest to help Jill.

"So…" Jill wondered curiously, "what are we looking for?"

Sergio glanced at her and explained, "This quest requires us to get various types of herbs."

"Herbs?" she asked, mildly confused.

Sergio nodded in return. "There are many types of herbs in SAO, green, red, yellow, blue, and white. You can use them in foods, potions, poisons, and weapons."

"In weapons…?"

"Yes. Certain types can be used to create powerful poisons. Hell, I think with the proper methods you could even make explosives! You can also take parts from the monsters you kill to make weapons and armor. And killing the highest tier monsters is the best way to make the best gear!"

Jill put a hand on her chin in consternation. "I see. What kind of armor would be best for me?"

Sergio looked her over in thought. "Hhmm… something light and flexible that shows off a lot of skin."

Jill smirked slyly. "You just want to see my body."

"Hehe, true. But it's also the best kind for speed fighters."

Horo narrowed her eyes as she looked around. "Something isn't right."

Sergio looked around as well and nodded in agreement. "Yeah…"

Jill raised an eyebrow, confused. "Huh? What's not right?"

"There's supposed to be all kinds of little creatures here. But there aren't."

"Huh?"

Sergio then turned to the side and watched as a squirrel jumped from a tree, only to get sliced in half before disintegrating. "Well… that was pointless…"

"What?" an annoyed voice asked.

Sergio turned and saw a tall woman that had long green hair and blue eyes wearing a white and blue belly top that revealed a lot of cleavage from her generous bust with a crest just above her left breast, long dark gloves, long brown stockings held by a garter over her bloomers with long dark boots wielding a long red spear. Sergio whistled lightly as he looked over her. "Nice."

The woman pointed her spear at Sergio, annoyed. "What did you mean by pointless?"

"You do realize that defenseless woodland creatures give you zero XP right?"

The woman slumped to the ground in defeat.

"Guess not," Knightwalker commented.

Sergio sighed in exasperation. "Newbies…"

The woman stood up with a growl. "Then why're they here!? Don't you get XD from everything you kill?!"

"They're there for a sense of realism and item gathering. You get combat related XP from things that can fight back."

"Aw crap... ggaahh! You gotta be kidding! I've spent hours killing all these animals and it was for nothing?! Gah!"

Knightwalker sent a slightly annoyed, knowing look at Sergio.

Sergio sighed and shrugged. "Sorry, I can't help it."

Knightwalker sighed with exasperation. "Of course you can't…"

Jill snickered lightly. "Maybe you should charge for newbie lessons."

Sergio put a hand on his chin in thought.

Jill gaped in disbelief. "That was a joke!"

Sergio raised an eyebrow. "So? Sounds like a good idea. But I'll worry about it later. Oy, Newbie Dos, need some help?"

Twitching an eyebrow, the woman retorted, "I have a name, you know?!"

"That doesn't help unless you tell me what it is."

"It's Le – er, Toyotama."

"Right, then, Toyotama. So, do you want my help?"

"Yes!"

Sergio chuckled lightly. "Okay, okay, calm down. For starters, we're on a quest right now, so tag along until it's done and then we'll help you level a bit."

Toyotama nodded rapidly.

Jill looked over some of the assorted herbs nearby with confusion. "So… which of these do I gather?"

Sergio turned to her and explained, "The blue and red ones are what the quest wants, so just collect those. It wouldn't hurt to collect more, but worry about the color, not the shape."

"O – Okay," Jill answered unsurely as she fumbled around the plant with her hand, trying unsuccessfully to grab the plant. "H – How do I…?"

"Put your hand over it and then swipe when the prompt appears."

Jill blinked in thought and raised her hand over the plant, causing a menu window to appear which she then swiped, adding the plant to her inventory. "Ah, that's convenient. Let's see…"

Sergio watches with mild amusement as Jill excitedly went about gathering up other herbs before going back to collecting some on his own, Knightwalker intently watching him from behind. "Take a picture, it lasts longer."

* * *

"Okay, that should be enough," Jill noted after collecting a large number of the required herbs.

Sergio nodded in agreement. "Yep. That it should."

"Finally!" Toyotama exclaimed in boredom. "I was getting so bored!"

Knightwalker huffed lightly as she folded her arms. "No one's keeping you here, you know."

Toyotama twitched an eyebrow angrily.

Sergio turned to Knightwalker amused. "Down girl. Okay, let's turn in this quest."

Knightwalker smirked lightly. "Right behind you, Darling."

* * *

After turning the quest in, Jill smiled excitedly. "Hey! I leveled up!"

Sergio smiled and patted her shoulder lightly. "See? Easy when you know how."

Toyotama turned to the side and hissed in annoyance. "Che."

"Too bad some of us don't," Knightwalker chided with a smirk.

Toyotama twitched an eyebrow. "Cram it, Red!"

"Hm? Did you say something?"

Sergio chuckled lightly before redirecting, "Now it's time to get miss stabby some XP. Let's all make a party. Miia, Horo, and I will take out a few stronger grunts and you guys can feed off the shared XP. Of course, feel free to jump into the fray if you want to try some combat. I've even got the perfect monster for us to hunt!"

Jill raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "What is it?"

Sergio grinned widely. "An Arzuros!"

* * *

As Sergio led the group through a deep forest, Toyotama frowned in thought. "So… what exactly _is_ an Arzuros?"

Sergio stopped and then pointed ahead. "That."

Toyotama gaped as she saw a massive, azure-furred, bear-like monster with scale-like hide on its back and arms. "We are fighting _that_?!"

"Yep. They are strong, could be classed as a mini-boss, and their parts can be used to make some pretty good weapons and armor."

Jill then raised a hand. "If it's all the same to you, I'll take you up on that offer to stay back here."

Sergio smiled happily. "Don't mind at all."

Miia drooled, however, as she gazed at the Arzuros.

Sergio put a hand on Miia's shoulder. "Miia, don't. That thing's armor is tougher than your constricting pressure. And its armor is a bit spiky."

Miia pouted with disappointment. "But… it looks so tasty…"

"And I'm sure it will think the same of you. Especially if you're lathered up in honey."

"So how do we take it down?" Horo questioned.

"Hit fast and hard, avoid its wide claw swipes. Its underbelly is the weak point."

"Understood. I'll take to the air and provide you an opening."

Sergio nodded in agreement. "Good. Miia, you distract it as well."

Miia flinched lightly. "H – Huh? Uh, okay…"

"Good."

Horo then opened her wings and leapt into the air above the Arzuros.

The Arzuros growled as it saw Horo overhead and then roared loudly.

Horo smirked as she flew above it. "That's right, keep your eyes on me."

The Arzuros roared once more and slammed its front feet into the ground.

Horo took in a deep breath and then exhaled suddenly, sending a massive conflagration at the Arzuros.

The beast then smashed down a nearby tree, sending it flying at her.

Miia smirked and coiled her tail tightly around the tree and then swung it down like a giant hammer at the Arzuros, the beast growling and swiping at her.

Sergio took the moment and charged swiftly at the monster and swung his fist at the beast's underside.

The beast bellowed in pain before beginning to charge at Sergio.

Horo dove down and grabbed Sergio, taking him into the air away from the Arzuros' charge.

"Ah crap!" Toyotama cursed as the beast's charge lead straight towards her.

Sergio chuckled lightly. "Oops."

Knightwalker reared back her spear and then threw it forward, hitting the Arzuros in the eye, causing it to howl in pain. Smirking, she then opened a menu and equipped a new spear. "I've been wanting to give this a try." A large, black spear with four large blades then appeared in her grasp.

"Huh, nice."

Knightwalker raised the spear, after which the blades spread wide, revealing a large hole in the center, that then fired a powerful blast of energy.

The Arzuros howled as the blast knocked it to the side and staggered it.

Sergio blinked, impressed. "Huh, a Gun Lance." Sergio glanced down and realized the Arzuros had landed on its back and glanced up at Horo, who immediately released him. Using the momentum of his fall, Sergio slammed his fist down hard, causing the Arzuros to roar in agony before shimmering and then shattering to pieces. Sergio sighed as he stood with a smirk. "Well, that's that."

Toyotama, huffing from exhaustion, growled at Sergio. "Wh – Why you… you ass… hole…"

"So? How's it feel fighting something that hits back?"

Toyotama twitched an eyebrow and groaned. "Annoying."

"Wimp."

"Asshat."

Jill merely sighed in exasperation.

* * *

As Sergio and the others made their way back to the Town of Beginnings, Sergio turned to Toyotama and Jill. "That should've leveled you two up a little bit."

Toyotama sighed in exhaustion. "I hope so."

"It did," Jill answered.

Sergio then turned to Toyotama and asked, "Have you gotten used to the quest system yet, Stabby?"

Toyotama growled in annoyance. "It's To – yo – ta – ma."

"Okay, Stabby. Still doesn't answer my question."

"Tch. Yeah, I got it, asshole."

"How 'bout you, Jill?"

Jill nodded in reply. "Yes, I have the basics down."

"Oy!" Toyotama interjected angrily. "How come you call _her_ by her username?!"

"Because it's fun to mess with Tsuns," Sergio rebutted with a smirk.

Toyotama growled in annoyance.

Sergio chuckled. "Okay. Think you can handle it on your own for a while?"

Toyotama nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

Jill turned to him and answered, "I think I'd like to shadow you a while longer."

Sergio nodded in understanding. "Good to know. Now, let's find a nice blacksmith that will get you, Miia, and Horo outfitted!"

* * *

Sergio and the others made their way through the city when Sergio glanced to the side and noticed Jill smiling towards him. Raising an eyebrow, Sergio wondered, "Something wrong Jill?"

Jill shook her head in response. "It's nothing."

Miia pouted lightly and then wrapped her tail around Sergio tightly. "Keep away from Darling!"

"Oy!" Knightwalker called out.

"Get your tail off him!" Horo demanded.

Jill giggled lightly at the spectacle.

"He's _my_ Darling!" Miia snapped back.

Horo growled. "That's not my point! You're killing him!"

"Eh…?"

"HP…" Sergio groaned, "getting… low…"

"Eep!" Miia shrieked before releasing him.

Sergio glanced to the side after sighing and saw Kirito approaching. "'Bout time you showed up."

Kirito twitched an eyebrow in annoyance.

"Thought you weren't going to show up today."

Kirito huffed lightly. "It's not my fault. Ms. Presa gave me a mountain of homework. My arms are killing me."

Jill smirked in amusement. ' _Hope that teaches you a lesson._ '

Knightwalker then turned to Sergio. "Shall we tackle some more quests?"

"Nah," Sergio dismissed.

"Well I'm not sure about you," Kirito interjected, "but I'm going to try and get some more XP before the night's out."

"Sure, go ahead."

* * *

Jude sighed as he sat in the dining room.

"Something troubling you, Dear?" Camilla asked, sitting next to him.

Jude turned to her, pulled from his thoughts. "Huh? Oh not much. Just thinking."

Rowen stood next to the duo and asked, "Do you require anything else of me tonight, sir, madam?"

Jude shook his head in response. "No. That will be all for tonight Rowen."

Rowen bowed to the two. "Very well. Then I shall take my leave."

Camilla waved with a smile. "Take care." After Rowen walked out, Camilla smirked slyly and put her hand on Jude's chin. "I think it's time we lift your spirits a little."

Jude smiled subtly in return. "Maybe. I could use some cheering up."

"Then let's do that," Camilla answered with a smirk before pulling Jude to his feet, and then taking him down the hallway, into her room, closing the door behind her.

* * *

Leia groaned with frustration as she sat in class. "Stupid jerk…"

Jude raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Something wrong Leia?"

Leia turned to him and shook her head. "Huh? Oh, just a little tired is all. And annoyed…"

"Huh? With what?"

"Because of some jerk online."

Jude blinked in confusion. "Online?"

Leia immediately stiffened and then laughed unconvincingly. "N – N – Nothing! Nothing at all! Don't worry about it!"

Jude frowned in bewilderment. "Uh… okay?"

Presa then walked into the room, her hips still swaying as before, a small smile now adorning her lips.

Jude blinked in thought as he observed this.

Natsuki furrowed her brow in consideration. "Okay, something is definitely different today."

"Yeah…" Kazuto agreed with confusion.

Jude raised an eyebrow. "Really? What do you mean?"

Natsuki nodded before Leia added, "It's hard to describe."

"Yeah…" Kazuto muttered. "It's like… Ms. Presa is… happier than her usual mood…"

"But…" Jude mumbled, "why is she so happy…?"

Presa stood at her desk, still smiling, and put several papers down. "Right, time to begin the class, everyone."

* * *

As Jude and the others sat at lunch, Jude looked to the side and noticed Kazuto staring at his phone in befuddlement.

"What is this…?" Kazuto mumbled in confusion.

"What's up?" Jude asked.

Kazuto blinked and then turned to him. "Huh? Oh nothing. Just got something weird on my cell." He then showed the screen on his cellphone to Jude, displaying a huge string of numbers. "It's some kind of code."

"It's huge. Who could have sent it though?"

Kazuto shrugged in reply. "Dunno." His mouth turning up in a grin, he added, "But I'm gonna crack it."

"Good luck on that." With a chuckle, Jude then added, "And you call me a geek."

"Yeah, yeah. You _are_ a geek. You always try and find every single hidden secret."

Leia sat silently as the others spoke, frowning. "I'm gonna kick that Sergio's butt… jerk…" she mumbled quietly.

Jude stiffened suddenly. "Wh – Who…?"

Leia also stiffened, laughing weakly once more. "Wha – huh? Oh, uh, nothing."

"O – okay." ' _Sh – She can't possibly know… Or maybe… Wait… Oh she couldn't be… Sh – She's Toyotama?! Oh crap, this is bad!_ '

"Something wrong Jude?" Kazuto asked with confusion.

"Uh, nothing…"

"Oookkkaaayyy…?"

* * *

Jude sighed as he sat at his desk, deep in thought. ' _Crap, what a pain… Got to be careful around Leia now… Maybe I should get my character a second weapon to use? Yeah… maybe a sword or ax. But which? Hmm… Sword. Definitely sword. A nice greatsword._ '

"Something wrong, Mathis?" Presa asked as she walked up to him, puzzled.

Jude flinched lightly and then turned to her. "H – Huh? Oh. Nothing Ms. Presa."

Presa frowned with light concern. "I see. Well the final bell rang already, so you should get going."

"R – Right. See you later Ms. Presa!" Jude answered abruptly as he rushed out, not noticing Presa's smirk.

Presa's smirk widened after he left the room. "You most certainly will."

* * *

As Jude and Camilla walked home, Camilla noticed the heaviness in Jude's steps. "Why are you so tense, Darling?"

"Simple," Jude answered tensely. "I learned Leia is playing SAO."

Camilla remained silent in thought. "… So…?"

"She's Stabby."

Camilla sighed lightly. "I'm afraid I still don't see the problem. Are you that worried about people discovering your online persona?"

Jude sighed in defeat. "I guess… I just want to let loose and be whatever I want to be and do whatever I want to do online."

Camilla shrugged in response. "Then do it. Personally, I'm uncertain why you act so reserved most of the time anyway. But, that's part of what I love about you I suppose. There's that part of you only I get to see, as well as you secret personality."

Jude sighed in exasperation.

* * *

Jude swiftly finished up his after-school work and hurriedly made his way to his room to get into SAO.

"Okay, I've got to log on quick before Leia does."

* * *

Sergio sighed as he stepped out of the inn with Knightwalker, Miia, and Horo.

However, Knightwalker blinked in confusion as Sergio stopped in place and flickered lightly.

* * *

Back in his room, Rowen lifted the helmet from Jude's head. "Shall I bring you dinner later, sir?"

"Y – Yeah Rowen," Jude answered shakily from being suddenly taken out from the game. "That would be good."

"As you wish," Rowen answered before putting the helmet back on him.

* * *

Back in the game, Sergio sighed, annoyed.

Knightwalker furrowed her brow. "What happened just now?"

"It's nothing, Rowen just wanted to know if I want dinner brought up when ready," Sergio retorted before looking around. "Now to get to that shop. Let's see…" As he looked around, he saw a young woman putting a sign above a small shop.

As she stepped down from the ladder, he saw that she had short brown hair tied back with a clip and brown-orange eyes, wearing a pink version of the standard starting gear.

He blinked curiously and walked over to her.

She saw his group approaching and turned with an excited smile. "Ah! Might you be my first customers?"

Sergio raised an eyebrow and then shrugged. "I guess we can be. I'm Sergio, this is Knightwalker, Miia, and Horo. You?"

"The name's Lisbeth, and this is my shop, Lisbeth's Smith Shop."

Sergio smiled weakly with exasperation. "Ah… Name could use some work there Liz."

Lisbeth puffed her cheeks angrily. "I think it's cute."

"Cute it is but cute doesn't bring in customers wanting to buy weapons and armor."

Lisbeth folded her arms with a huff. "Humph! I'm not changing it!"

Sergio chuckled with amusement. "Alright, alright. I wasn't telling you to, just offering mercantile advice. So, you open for business?"

Lisbeth smiled proudly. "As long as you've got Cor I've got equipment. So what're you looking for?"

"A greatsword," Sergio answered simply.

"Right." She then looked him over before furrowing her brow in thought. "Wait, is this your first weapon then? Because I don't see anything else on you."

"I use my fists mostly."

Lisbeth's jaw fell in shock. "Huh!? How?! There aren't even any bare-handed skills! You'd have to have an absurdly high Strength stat to do any damage!"

"Having Heavy Armor gauntlets helps a lot."

Lisbeth sighed in disbelief. "Good grief. Well, I've got a lot of swords, so take a look."

Sergio looked over the various blades in thought before turning to her. "It's not been long into the game, but you're pretty good at this."

Lisbeth smirked proudly. "Teehee. I like playing the smith in other RPGs, so I've gotten some pretty good knowledge on weapons. Fortunately, even though there are lots of things about this game that are weird, a lot of it is similar to older games."

"I see. Guess you really focused on making weapons in the Cloudrim game huh?"

* * *

Shortly later, Sergio stood in front of Lisbeth's desk, a long, curved, light blue sword sitting on it. Lisbeth snickered lightly. "You certainly don't shop cheap."

"I prefer the best, of course," Sergio remarked. He then grabbed the sword with one hand and lifted it into the air and gave it several swings.

"Uwah!" Lisbeth gasped.

"Hm?" Sergio hummed before sheathing the blade. "What's wrong?"

"How can you do that…? The weight of that weapon makes it a two-handed weapon unless your strength stat is absurd."

"I _really_ like pounding enemies with my fists. It does wonders for one's Strength."

"Just how high _is_ your Strength…?"

"I killed an Arzuros in two hits."

Lisbeth twitched an eyebrow in disbelief.

Sergio blinked in thought. "Oh, right." Going through several menus, he then dropped the Arzuros pieces on the floor. "Think this will cover the cost?"

Lisbeth gaped. "Y – Yeah… that'll do…"

"Great! Oh, hey, can you make daggers? I've got a friend going the stealth route."

"Huh? Sure."

Sergio grinned happily. "Thanks Liz!"

Lisbeth's face tinted lightly before she nodded. "U – Uh, right."

* * *

Sergio, looked over the small dagger Lisbeth handed him. "This is great quality. It'll do perfectly."

"So this is where you went," Jill noted as she walked into the shop.

Sergio turned with a smile. "Ah Jill! There you are!"

Lisbeth twitched an eyebrow and then sighed heavily. ' _Even online all the guys I meet are taken…_ '

Jill looked at the large sword on Sergio's back and raised an eyebrow. "What's with the sword?"

"Huh?" Sergio hummed before realizing what she meant. "Oh, thought I'd try something new."

"Interesting."

"Oh, I even got you a dagger," he answered before showing it to her.

Jill looked at the blade in thought. "Ah… thanks. Oh, and your pets are having a fight in town."

Sergio slapped a hand over his face in irritation. "They aren't pets. They are Partners. Pets are _way_ easier to control."

"Stop those crazy things!" one of the pedestrians outside shouted as Miia and Horo bickered.

"Miia! Horo! No fighting!" Sergio shouted as he rushed out of the building.

* * *

Shortly later, the group made their way through the city when Jill spotted a large crowd gathered around a small space. "What's that about?"

Sergio raised an eyebrow in thought. "Hhmm… probably a player duel. Let's go watch."

As the group approached, Sergio tapped one of the onlookers on the shoulder. "What's going on?"

The man turned to Sergio in thought and then looked back at the center of the crowd where two men stood, one a muscular, tall man with a large ax and the other a small, nimble young man with white hair. "A duel. Apparently the guy in the hoodie there is from the Beta-Test, and the big guy wants to prove that Beta-Testers aren't any good."

Sergio sighed. "Wow… quite the delusional dumbass. What a poor hapless moron that guy is. I don't even think this fight will last long enough for me to grab us snacks. The white-haired guy is named Kazama, by the by."

Jill furrowed her brow in confusion. "Why is that? He's so small. The other guy's gotta be –"

"Yeah, the big guy is screwed," Sergio interrupted.

The large man immediately swung his massive ax at the hood-clad man.

The hooded man leapt up, landing on the ax's blade as it swung and dashed forward, slamming his knee into the larger man's jaw, using his head to leap back to the ground. He then dashed forward with great speed and slammed into the large man, knocking him back, before leaping high into the air and slamming down on the man, ending the battle within six seconds of the starting bell.

Sergio whistled in fascination. "Told ya. Not long at all. Man, now I wanna fight this guy."

Jill nodded in understanding, awestruck.

However, as a pile of Cor appeared to reward the hooded man, he merely walked away, leaving it behind.

Jill furrowed her brow in confusion. "Why did he do that?"

Sergio turned to her and enlightened, "He fights for the challenge of fighting. He's the only other player besides me who fights barehanded." He then pouted slightly as he looked at the man's back. "And I hate to admit it but he can beat my ass. Fuck. I need to get better and faster. Hhmm… maybe I should find Kanami and spar with her."

Jill chopped Sergio on the back of the head.

"Gah! The hell was that for!?"

Jill stiffened with worry. ' _Uh-oh, I acted on reflex…_ ' "Uhh… didn't like that mopey look on your face."

Sergio raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Erm… thanks? I guess." However, he then turned to the side as Kirito approached with another person next to him.

The other person was a young man with long red hair, wearing a bandana around his forehead, along with the generic starting male outfit in red.

Kirito waved to Sergio and his group as they approached. "Yo, Sergio, 'sup?"

Sergio waved in reply. "Yo, Kirito! Not much, actually. Finally got a nice weapon from a pretty lady. See you found yourself a training dummy, I mean apprentice too!"

"Isn't that the same thing?" Knightwalker questioned.

Kirito chuckled and motioned to his red-haired friend. "This guy got his ass beat by a baby Aptonoth."

"Oh come on, man!" the red-haired man growled. "It wasn't that bad!"

"You called that thing a mid-level boss."

"Wow…" Sergio mumbled in awe. "Those things don't even attack, just run. You must really suck. That almost sounds like the first time we ran into Jill."

Jill folded her arms with a huff. "Hey, I've never played a video game before, so I get a pass."

Kirito nodded in return. "Yeah, Klein here was actually run over by it."

The red-haired man, Klein, groaned in frustration.

Knightwalker gaped in disbelief. "Wow… Just… wow…"

Klein then noticed Miia and Horo next to Sergio. "Whoa…"

Miia turned to him, mildly confused, and tilted her head curiously. "Hm?"

Horo, however, growled at him.

Sergio chuckled and put his hands on Miia and Horo's shoulders. "Sorry pal, these are mine. All three are."

Jill blinked in bewilderment at the number.

Kirito motioned to the sword on Sergio's back. "So you finally decided to try and play properly, huh?"

Sergio shook his head as he held the weapon aloft with one arm. "Not really. I'm just using it as a secondary weapon." However, he then felt a light tap on the back of his head and turned to see Toyotama behind him. "Well if it ain't Stabby."

Twitching an eyebrow in annoyance, she corrected, "It's Toyotama." She then looked at the blade in his grasp, curiously. "What's with the big sword? I thought you were a fist fighter."

"Just a little something to add some variety, Stabby. I am. But relying on only one thing gets one killed."

"I see…"

Klein then gaped as he looked at Sergio's current situation. "Aw, come on man!"

Sergio turned to the man, confused. "What's your problem?"

"This is so unfair! The game's only just started and you're surrounded by chicks!"

Kirito chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I know he is."

However, the group's conversation was immediately cut short as the game's system produced several loud chimes.

Toyotama furrowed her brow in confusion. "Huh? What's that?"

A voice within the system then spoke loudly, "All logged in players, please gather in the coliseum."

"Huh," Sergio muttered. "That sounds important. Well, better go."

* * *

As the group made their way to the coliseum, Sergio turned to Kirito curiously. "So, how'd that math problem go?"

"It was tough but I managed to get it," Kirito answered with a shrug.

"So what was it?"

"Some kind of coded message."

"Really? What'd it say?"

"I think it said 'The Magic Words Are Squeamish Ossifrage' or something like that."

Sergio's eyes immediately shot wide with horror. "WHAT!?"

Kirito stumbled back at the sound. "That was loud…"

Sergio immediately grabbed Kirito up by the collar. "Who sent you that text? Who!?"

Kirito, frantic, and confused by Sergio's sudden rage, shook his head wildly. "I – I don't know, man, okay!? It was some number I don't recognize!"

Sergio released him and growled angrily, tightening his fists. "Do you have any idea what that is?!"

Kirito gulped lightly and shook his head. "N – Not really…"

Sergio grit his teeth. "Fuck! We need to get every single player out of SAO, right now."

"H – Huh? Why…?"

Sergio swiped through several menus and then paled in horror. "Damn! It's already too late!"

"What's wrong?"

"Kirito, you need to listen to me, and listen well. If you have any family in your house, send them an email immediately."

"O – Okay," Kirito answered with trepidation. "But why?"

"Because you're not leaving. _None_ of us are leaving."

"Wh – What…?" Kirito furrowed his brow and opened a menu and began skimming through it. "What are you –?" his eyes widened in horror as he looked at the menu's options.

Sergio nodded slowly. "Yeah. All log out options have been removed. What you cracked Kirito… was the code for SAO's internal security network. Whoever sent you that text, now has full control over SAO's systems."

Kirito paled in horror. "Oh no… Th – This is bad…"

Sergio narrowed his eyes. "He's shut down all log-out abilities, up next is probably external communication. If you've got family, send them an email while you can."

Kirito immediately accessed his menu and began to do as Sergio suggested.

"I also sent one to Leia's mom, warning her not to remove the helmet. And whatever you do, don't breathe a word of this, not to anyone. It'll just start a panic. I'm going to try and find a way to fix this. If I can get to the central tower for Aincrad, I should be able to access the main systems. With any luck, I can turn the log-out function back on long enough for the other players to get out."

"R – Right…"

* * *

Soon, a large number of players were gathered inside of a large, stone stadium.

Toyotama huffed in mild irritation. "Wonder what the hell is going on."

Kirito stiffened and then laughed weakly. "D – Dunno…"

Jill furrowed her brow lightly. "Very insightful," she deadpanned before turning to Sergio. "Do you have any idea, Sergio?"

However, before Sergio could answer, a large, humanoid figure shrouded in a red, hooded cloak appeared in the sky above the coliseum.

"Whoa!" Klein exclaimed. "What is that?!"

The figure then splayed out its arms and began to speak. "Hello, players, and welcome to my world, Sword Art Online. I am the creator of this world, Akihiko Kayaba."

Knightwalker's eyes widened in shock. "… F – Father…?" she mumbled quietly.

Akihiko continued, "The tutorial phase has ended, and now the real game begins. Your goal is to conquer all one hundred floors of this majestic land, Aincrad. There is a reward awaiting those who accomplish this feat."

Lisbeth tilted her head in thought. "Reward?"

Toyotama blinked in thought before smirking. "Really? That sounds awesome!"

"A world of adventure awaits those who accept this challenge. I, Akihiko Kayaba, send all thee unto – unto – unto…" Akihiko's body immediately began flickering and glitching as his speech continued to repeat.

"Wh – What's going on?" Jill wondered in concern. "Something is wrong… Very wrong…"

"Damn it!" Sergio cursed angrily before everyone turned as Kirito began howling in pain, his body twisting and morphing wildly.

"Wh – What the hell!?" Toyotama shouted in shock.

Kirito's body was bathed in light before a burst of energy suddenly shot out from him, sending a pulse throughout all of Aincrad, causing large, red, glowing, warning signs to appear in the sky over the coliseum and begin flashing and blaring loudly.

"I don't know what this is, but this is bad!" Jill shouted.

Kirito's body trembled violently before going limp as it stood.

"Kirito…" Sergio asked tentatively.

Kirito then stood eerily straight before his eyes snapped open as he grinned, revealing blank, glowing, crimson eyes and large, razor-sharp teeth.

"Ah shit."

Kirito then spread his arms out wide and spoke with a high-pitched, electronic voice, "This is my world now. My world, my rules."

"Like hell it is!" Sergio growled angrily.

"I am Love Machine, and this world is mine. You're my puppets." His grin then widened. "But it isn't as fun if I can't see whom I control." Another pulse of energy then shot out from his body and enveloped all of the players in light. When it died down, they found that their in-game avatars had been replaced their real life appearance.

As the light around Toyotama died down, Leia was revealed underneath. She looked around in confusion. "Wh – What was that…?"

"L – Leia!?" a voice shouted.

Leia immediately turned and saw Presa standing next to her.

"M – Miss Presa!?"

Camilla sighed in exasperation, eventually realizing she was still clad in her avatar's clothing.

However, Leia and Presa then both turned and saw Jude standing nearby, wearing Sergio's clothing.

"J – Jude!?" Leia shouted.

Jude flinched and then looked down, realizing his appearance now matched his look in the real world. "O – Oh boy… L – Look… I can explain this…"

"You're that Sergio prick!?"

Jude flinched in shock at the accusation. "P – Prick!?"

"Yeah! Yo –!"

Camilla put up a hand and said flatly, "We have bigger things to worry about."

Love Machine then grabbed a nearby player and opened his jagged mouth impossibly wide and swallowed the player whole.

"Well…" Jude mumbled before drawing his sword. "That's not good."

The other players began screaming and running as Love Machine charged and grabbed two more players, devouring them whole. However, he looked as the players began to run and flicked his wrists, causing a wall of energy to rise, blocking all of the players from fleeing. "Oh you're not getting away that easy."

Jude narrowed his eyes and charged at Love Machine, his sword low to the ground as he prepared for a strike.

Love Machine lazily swung his fist, sending Jude flying away and slamming into one of the coliseum's walls. "I wasn't done speaking, maggots!"

Camilla immediately summoned her spear and fired a shot at Love Machine.

Love Machine grabbed a girl nearby to him and threw her at the incoming shot.

"Shit!" Camilla cursed before Jude rushed past her at great speed, dove, and caught the girl, stopping the blast from hitting her, but the shot grazed his arm, causing it to dissipate as he hit the ground. "Jude!"

Love Machine snarled in irritation. "Now, if you little worms will stop interrupting me, I'll finish what I was saying."

Jude sat weakly as Camilla knelt next to him and scowled at Love Machine.

Love Machine smirked and continued, "Now, it's true that I will be killing each and every one of you. But…" he trailed off before grinning. "It's no fun to just crush you all. So I'll make this amusing. If you can clear all one hundred floors of this stupid game, I'll let you go free."

Jude narrowed his eyes.

"Bbuutt, all the while I'm going to be crowing down on you little cretins. Oh, and one last rule. Death in the game…" he then bared his teeth with a mad, maniacal grin, "MEANS YOU DIE FOR REAL!"

The crowd around him paled in horror.

"You're insane!" Jude howled.

Love Machine threw his head back with a mad cackle. "HAHAHA! So!? There's nothing you little creatures can do. Oh, I'll give you one other little gift, since you humans so amuse me. If you can kill me, I'll let you go." He then immediately grabbed two more nearby players and consumed them, causing his body to morph and bulge, before settling as he had grown taller than the other players, his skin darkening with multiple dark blue panels on his body, his form now clad in dark blue, baggy trousers, an orange sash around his waist, and a golden helmet on his head.

Jude growled and charged once more, his sword poised to strike Love Machine.

Love Machine grinned excitedly and charged as well, raising a fist to strike Jude.

Jude raised his blade to block Love Machine's strike, but the mutated being's fist shattered the sword on contact and then slammed into Jude, sending him tumbling across the ground before smashing into the far wall, embedding in it for several seconds before collapsing. Jude coughed and then glanced up, realizing nearly half of his HP had been drained in one hit by the single blow.

"Jude!" Camilla called out before running to him.

Jude groaned as he stood up. ' _Th – The hell…?!_ '

Love Machine snickered and raised a hand, beckoning Jude towards him. "Come on, Beta-Tester, you can do better than that."

Jude growled and drank a large potion before standing and raising his fists. "Guess it's the old fashioned way."

"Don't think you're going at this jerk alone," a new voice interjected.

Jude turned to the side and saw a young man with short brown hair and tanned skin wearing Kazama's clothing standing next to him before raising his fists. Nodding with a smirk, Jude retorted, "Good. I need all the help I can get. Whatever this thing is, it boosted the power of Kirito's Avatar. And I have no idea what he is capable of."

"Any ideas?" Kazama asked.

"Hit him fast and hard and keep an eye on every limb. You hit low, I hit high."

"Works for me."

The duo then immediately charged.

* * *

"Wow…" Leia muttered as she and the others watched Kazama and Jude fight Love Machine.

"They're so fast," Presa noted in surprise.

"They aren't going to win though…" Camilla noted somberly.

"What…?" Presa asked, dismayed.

"Just look, Love Machine is barely moving when he dodges a strike."

* * *

' _Damn it all!_ ' Jude cursed as he threw another punch that Love Machine leaned to dodge. ' _It's toying with us!_ '

Kazama then charged and threw a punch at Love Machine, but the muscular beast blocked it, grabbed Kazama by the leg, and then slammed him at Jude.

Jude groaned as he sat up. "This… is not good… Not good at all…"

Another player then charged at Love Machine, the beast punching him in the abdomen before devouring him.

Jude shot a glance at Kazama, whom then grabbed Jude by the ankle and sent him flying at Love Machine. "Take this!" Jude shouted, causing Love Machine to turn in confusion, only to get a fist slammed into his face before Jude swung his leg into Love Machine's abdomen.

Love Machine grunted in pain from the impact before grinning widely.

"Huh?" Jude grunted before his body started getting absorbed into Love Machine's. "Ah shit!" Jude cursed as he sent several punches at Love Machine's face.

Love Machine grinned, unfazed. "You're mine!"

' _Damn it! It can't end like this!_ '

Miia suddenly rushed forward, coiled her tail around Jude's waist and yanked roughly, pulling him free of the beast's body, a small blob entering Jude's leg. "Darling! Are you okay?!"

Horo then sent a large fireball at Love Machine, whom growled and dodged the shot. "You're a disgusting creature. And you will die."

Kazama then snapped his fingers and caused a woman with leaves on her head to emerge from the ground before vines shot from her body and wrapped around Love Machine, binding him in place, before the beast slashed his hands out at the bindings, breaking them.

"I think I've had enough fun for now," Love Machine noted before floating up into the air and vanishing, causing the barrier around the coliseum to drop.

Jude sighed in relief before dropping to his knees. "That was… too close…"

Camilla immediately rushed to Jude's side.

Klein gulped in fear as he looked around. "H – Hey… what was that just now…? Th – That wasn't real… right…?"

"I…" Presa muttered as she looked through her menu, "think it was… I can't even find my logout button…"

"Open your menu," Jude urged. "It's all too real."

Klein then proceeded to open his menu and looked through it before paling. Laughing unconvincingly, he asked, "Y – Yeah, but… I – I mean… it's just a bug… right?"

Jude shook his head. "No. It's that virus."

Leia growled and then yelled, "Hey, you can't be serious with this, Jude! You mean there's no way to get out?!"

Camilla sighed heavily. "No, there isn't. If Jude says there isn't, he's being honest."

Jude tightened his fists angrily. "No, there isn't. The only way to logout is the menu. Our only other hope is if someone takes the NerveGear off us." As Jude panned through several menus, he paled in horror.

"Jude?"

"No! That insane bastard! That's how he made this a death game!"

Klein flinched at Jude's sudden declaration. "What?! What?!"

"What?" Leia insisted. "How?"

Jude grit his teeth. "That bastard! He's hacked the NerveGears themselves. If you die, or if someone tries to take it off… it releases high-powered microwaves."

Leia stiffened in fear. "Wait, microwave? Y – You mean… like an oven…?"

Jude sighed. "No. Like radiation. The sensors in the NerveGear use microwave signals. If they're amped up enough, it could destroy organic tissue. And this monster made it so that if we die in the game or someone removes the NerveGear it will fry our brains."

Leia stumbled back and then fell to her knees in hopelessness. "Y – You mean… we're… we're trapped here…?"

Jude nodded slowly. "Yes… we are… Until we either clear the one hundredth floor or destroy that thing."

The players crowded in the area then immediately began screaming in terror.

Jude narrowed his eyes as the others started panicking. "Camilla, everyone, let's go before things get heavy."

"What do you mean?" Presa wondered.

"Just follow me," Jude urged.

Camilla nodded in understanding. "Right."

* * *

The group swiftly made their way into an alleyway away from the rowdy group of players.

"So, what's the plan?" Leia asked.

Jude nodded and explained, "We head to the next town, immediately. We get out of this city and start hunting and leveling up."

Klein furrowed his brow. "Why?"

"Simple, the only way we're going to get out of here is by powering up. And we need Cor and XP to do that. But in an MMO like this, the amount you can earn is limited. Mobs don't respawn."

"Whoa…" Leia mumbled in surprise.

"So we need to get out of the city and to another to do that the best, seeing as everyone here will be going around the local area and dry up all the good hunting. In only a few days, the fields around the Town of Beginnings will be picked clean of monsters and quests. So if we head to the next town now we'll get the chance to earn some extra experience and gold."

"Then let's go," Presa urged.

Kazama nodded in agreement. "Yes. That is a good plan."

Klein remained silent as he tightened his fists with frustration.

Leia blinked curiously. "Uuhh… something wrong, sword guy?"

"Klein?" Jude asked.

Klein sighed remorsefully. "I… you see… I actually waited in line to get this game with some friends of mine, and… they're back in that plaza… somewhere. I can't just leave them behind."

Jude sighed and then nodded. "I see. Then you should go to them. Go take care of them."

"Yeah…" Klein then smirked weakly and continued, "Besides, I can't have a guy I just met stickin' his neck for me like that. I'll be fine. Besides, you got enough trouble with all these chicks."

Camilla huffed lightly. "The only trouble is the snake and the Tsun."

Jude turned to her, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Really my darling little brother? Why are you playing naïve now?"

Klein laughed weakly. "Ah… nevermind. Oh, and, Sergio, was it? I think you look better this way. Way cooler than that pretty-boy avatar of yours."

Jude flinched lightly. "P – Pretty-boy?"

Presa nodded with agreement. "He's right. You're much more handsome this way."

Jude and Leia both turned to Presa in shock.

Presa blinked in confusion. "Wh – What…?"

Jude gulped lightly, his cheeks red. "H – Handsome? M – Me? D – Did you just call me handsome?"

Presa's own cheeks began to gain a tint as she sputtered lightly. "… N – No… I think you misheard."

Klein laughed weakly as a bead of sweat fell down his face with exasperation. "Hoo boy… I can't decide if I envy you or pity you, Sergio. So I'll settle for both."

Jude just sighed heavily.

"Well, later," Klein added before waving as he left.

"Let's get going," Leia insisted.

Kazama then turned to Sergio and added, "Sorry, Sergio, but I need to head back as well. My cousin is in that plaza, and I can't just leave her there."

"Cousin?" Jude asked.

"Yeah."

"I understand. So that leaves me, Jill, Toyotama, IF, Miia, and Horo. That's a lot of ways to spread XP."

"All we earn goes to you, Darling!" Miia illuminated, excitedly.

Horo nodded in agreement. "You needn't worry about us. Our levels scale as you do, so you don't have to account for us."

Jude nodded with a small smile. "Okay then. Good to hear."

Miia pouted slightly. "So it's a group this big, Darling?"

Jude nodded in response. "Yes. It is. Why? Not a problem is there? After all, this isn't a game anymore… it's real. So we need to stick together in order to survive.

Miia nodded with a pout. "Okay…"

* * *

Jude sighed as he and the others made their way down a long road, occasionally taking out monsters that crossed their paths.

Presa then turned to Jude and asked, "So how exactly do we progress through this game?"

Jude folded his arms and explained, "Simple and not so simple. We increase our level, find the Floor Boss Dungeon and defeat the Raid Boss inside. Though… most probably know little about it…"

"The… the what?" Leia asked in bewilderment.

"And you just proved that point, Leia," Camilla teased.

Leia puffed her cheeks, turning slightly red. "Just explain it…"

Jude nodded. "Each floor is connected to the one above it by a tower. Somewhere in that tower is a room that hides a boss. We must defeat that boss and we move on to the next floor. And the first boss is Illfang the Kobold Lord and his Ruin Kobold Sentinels."

Presa folded her arms in slight confusion. "And how is it not simple?"

"You need a Raid group to beat it and its respawning minions."

Horo nodded in agreement. "The floor bosses are far stronger than any of the enemies in the surrounding floor, same with its minions."

Jude nodded. "Yeah. So we have to prepare and help others prepare as well. And find a little info merchant I know to help with that. I might've had a chance against it before, but Love Machine reset everyone's levels to one, so I need to beef up a bit first. And we'll need others to help as well, meaning we need to wait until some of the other ten thousand players get strong enough too."

"Info merchant?" Leia asked.

"Yeah. A speedster named Argo."

Leia tilted her head with confusion. "Argo?"

"Yes, Argo. She's a Beta-Tester like me but prefers selling info and rumors she collects."

"Interesting," Presa remarked.

"Let's get to the next town," Camilla urged.

"Right…" Leia remarked before turning to Presa. "So, Ms. Presa, why are you playing this game?"

Presa stiffened slightly. "Uuhh… W – Well…"

Jude interjected, "I don't think the reason's that important anymore. We're all trapped here, and we all want out."

Leia frowned in annoyance and mumbled, "Idiot…"

Camilla sighed. "I may love my little brother but he can certainly be dense."

However, Jude then immediately collapsed as they walked.

"Jude!" Presa shouted as the others crowded around him.

Camilla and Leia also suddenly collapsed as well.

"Wh – What the…?"

* * *

After a long period of time passed, Jude groaned as he awoke and sat up. "What… happened…? Ugh… My head feels like it is splitting…" He then looked as he saw the others slowly awake. "Oh… I think I know now…"

"You had me frightened," Presa explained with a sigh of relief as she sat next to him. "Do you have any idea why you all passed out?"

"Simple. They probably moved us… to… the… hospital… Why didn't you pass out?"

"Probably the special NerveGear I bought."

"Special NerveGear?

Presa nodded. "Yes. A wireless one."

Jude furrowed his brow in thought. "Hhmm… oh yeah, Asuna's dad was working on something like that."

"Who?" Presa asked.

"A friend of mine outside of school. Her dad owns RECT Inc."

Camilla then suddenly flinched.

"Sis?"

Camilla laughed unconvincingly before pointing nearby. "L – Let's go…"

"Okay…?"

Leia groaned heavily. "Is this what a hangover feels like…?"

* * *

The group eventually made their way to the next town and began leveling up and gathering weaponry and skills. Eventually one month had passed as the ten thousand players were trapped in the game, with progress being stale.

Jude sighed as he laid in his bed in a hotel the group had rented. "So a month's gone by already, huh…? And no one else has found the boss' lair. Hmm… A month should be a reasonable enough time to spread the word of where it is. So maybe…" His attention was then drawn to the side as he noticed Leia reading a book. "What are you reading, Leia?"

Leia blinked and then turned to him. "Huh? Oh, it's a simple guidebook. I bought it back in the Town of Beginnings since I didn't have a manual."

"That's it!" Jude suddenly shouted as he sat up.

Leia flinched to the side in surprise. "Uwah! Geez, don't shout like that."

"That's how I will do it!"

"Do what…?"

Jude immediately rushed over to her. "Where'd you get that book?"

Leia flinched back slightly in shock. "U – Uh, I, uh… there's a shop down the road that sells them… I think."

Jude immediately dashed out of the door and left.

Leia blinked in bewilderment as she sat still. "What… just happened…?"

* * *

Shortly later, Jude walked in carrying a large group of the guidebooks.

"The hell…?" Leia muttered as he set the books down.

Jude sighed and then called out, "Hey, Leia, Camilla, Presa, Miia, Horo, can you guys give me a hand?"

"With what exactly, Darling brother?" Camilla asked as she and the others walked in.

Miia smiled excitedly. "Sure darling! Want me to cook up something to?"

Jude raised an eyebrow in confusion and then shook his head. "Huh? Nah, this is more important."

* * *

 **And cut! That brings the second chapter of Virtual Nightmare: Sword Art Online. Hopefully everyone enjoyed it. If you did, be sure to post a review letting me know what you thought of it. If you were confused, unsure, or had questions about anything, let me know with a review and I will do my best to address your queries in a reviewer response. If you did not enjoy it... sorry? Though if you must post a review, try to keep it focused, but I would instead suggest you go and do something you actually _do_ enjoy instead. Well, I have nothing else to add here, so I guess I will see you next time. Bye-bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter III**

 **Hello and greetings to all. Yes, this time I have chosen to update Virtual Nightmare: Sword Art Online. I know it has been quite a long time since the last update, and I hope everyone enjoyed it, at least a few of you seemed to. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter as well. Be sure to leave a review if you do enjoy it. As usual I would like to thank my coauthor Bakuto Masaki for all of his help with the story so far and in the future. So, to start things off, reviewer responses away!**

 **demonfox2140: It is. Most likely. Not certain on that one, it's possible. I did mean Knightwalker, this story has gone through multiple revisions. Right. They will. I will.**

 **JMK2: You will have to wait and see, won't you?**

 **The Storm Master 567: He is. Well here it is.**

 **Short and sweet, so with that out of the way, let us move on to the main event.**

* * *

Jude walked in carrying a large group of the guidebooks.

"The hell…?" Leia muttered as he set the books down.

Jude sighed and then called out, "Hey, Leia, Camilla, Presa, Miia, Horo, can you guys give me a hand?"

"With what exactly, Darling brother?" Camilla asked as she and the others walked in.

Miia smiled excitedly. "Sure darling! Want me to cook up something to?"

Jude raised an eyebrow in confusion and then shook his head. "Huh? Nah, this is more important."

"Aaww…" Miia pouted.

"What's gotten into you?" Leia questioned.

Jude retorted, "Everyone else is using this book, right?"

"Yeah, I think so…"

Jude began scribbling in one of the books. "And no one has found the boss lair, right?"

"Not from what I've heard," Presa answered.

"I know where it is."

"Eh?" the others all mumbled in surprise.

"So here's my idea. I'll slip some info on the boss into the guidebook, and then hand the altered copies out to other players. And be sure to add a warning that the Boss might have some changes to make it different from the beta. Don't want people to get killed by my information after all!"

Camilla smiled warmly. "Sounds like an excellent idea darling brother."

Leia blinked in surprise. "That's… a genius idea. How'd you come up with it?"

"When you mentioned the Guide Book."

"Huh… okay, so what do I need to write down?"

* * *

Several hours later, Jude groaned as he sat back. "And done! That's about fifteen hundred guidebooks."

Camilla and the others groaned in exhaustion.

"Right, now I just need to find a way to distribute these out. Hmm… need to get in contact with Argo."

"Argo?" Leia asked.

"An info merchant and beta tester. Could have sworn I mentioned her before."

"A lot's happened."

"True. Anyway, I'll try and contact her and let her know."

* * *

Later on, Jude sighed as he sat on a bench before an amused voice remarked, "Well this is a surprise." Jude turned swiftly and saw a young woman with short, chin-length, messy blonde hair, and golden amber eyes wearing a brown tunic that hid her figure well, dark green trousers, and a long, grey, hooded cape over her head.

"Hey, Argo," Jude greeted with a smile. "Well I needed your help with something which is why I called you Argo."

Argo smirked and leaned over his shoulder. "Let's hear it."

* * *

Nearby, Leia and the others watched tensely.

"Why is she so close to him?" Leia asked with irritation.

"No idea," Presa added with a frown as Miia bit a tablecloth anxiously.

"You'll ruin your teeth like that," Horo huffed, causing Miia to hiss at her.

* * *

Argo looked over the edited guidebook in thought. "So you want these distributed throughout the other players?"

Jude nodded firmly. "Yes. As fast as possible."

"Got it."

"Thanks. I know you might not get any profit from this but the next big quest I do you'll get the money from it."

Argo smirked playfully. "I'll hold you to that."

"Right… thanks again for doing this Argo."

"Got it."

* * *

Several months passed after Jude's meeting with Argo, the situation leaving him slamming his head on the table. "You gotta be kidding me… even after all I did… It's December and _still_ no one's found the boss. Geez… I can't believe this."

Presa rubbed his back supportively. "I wouldn't worry, it's not your fault."

"Indeed," Camilla agreed.

Miia blinked curiously as she looked outside the window. "Hey, Darling, there's a whole bunch of people in the street. What's going on?"

Jude glanced outside as well. "I… don't know. Let's go check it out."

The group all headed out to the crowd and saw them gathered around a tall man with bright blue hair. The man looked around in thought. "So, is this everyone who's Level Five or higher?"

"What's he asking that for?" Leia asked.

Jude looked over the group before looking at the man in consideration. "Huh. Looks like a Raiding party."

"Ah…"

The blue-haired man then declared loudly, "Good. Now, let's get this meeting started! So anyway, I want to thank everyone for coming; good to see you. My name is Diavel, and in this game the job I rolled is knight!"

One of the men snickered and retorted, "Dude, there's no job system in this game!"

Jude sighed in exasperation. "Great. A jokester."

Diavel frowned and rebutted, "Look, do you guys want to hear this of not? I'll get to the point, our party found the boss room at the top of the tower today."

The crowd gasped in shock.

Jude blinked in surprise. "Huh…"

Presa smiled proudly. "See? Your efforts weren't in vain."

"Guess you're right."

Diavel continued, "First, we have to defeat the boss and make it to Floor Two. Second, we have to tell everyone still in the Town of Beginnings that it _is_ possible to beat this game! Fact is, it's our duty as the most capable players here. Do you agree, or not?"

The crowd quietly mumbled amongst themselves before clapping excitedly.

Presa folded her arms in thought. "You gotta hand it to him, he's a bit clumsy in his words but he manages to get the basic meaning across."

Jude frowned suspiciously. "True, but…"

Diavel added, "So to start, we'll organize into parties of six."

Jude watched as the other players formed groups before looking at his own group. "Well we've got me, Camilla, Leia, Presa, Miia, and Horo, right?"

Horo lightly tapped him on the head with her tail. "Miia and I don't count, remember?"

"Oh… Right… So that leaves us with… four. Meaning we need to get a couple more members." He then saw a person in a cloak sitting nearby. "Hmm… Hey, you on your own?"

"Not even," she retorted roughly. "It's just… everyone here is already such good friends."

"Huh. I see. So… want to join our party? It won't quite be six, but it'll be close."

The girl glanced at him in thought before nodding. "Sure."

"Cool. 'Kay, I just sent you an invite."

"I see." She then looked around seemingly at random. "How do I…?"

"Open the menu."

"Hhmm… Ah! Okay, now. There we go."

"Good."

Diavel nodded to himself before announcing, "Everyone partied up? Great, now, to continue –"

Suddenly, a man with jagged red hair shouted shrilly, "Hold it!"

"Huh?" Jude mumbled.

The man jumped down to the center of the group. "Name's Kibau and I gotta say somethin' first. There's some o' you out there who've been causing problems for everyone else! Because of you people two thousand players have died already!"

"What?"

"Those damn beta-testers! Because they knew all the best hunting grounds, all the good quests, everything! Because those people hogged it all, the rest of us have had to fend with scraps!"

Presa frowned venomously.

"I bet there are even some of 'em here, right now!"

The crowd began looking around with angry suspicion.

"If you ask me, they're responsible for those people's deaths because they had all that info and didn't share it with anyone! So they should give up all the gold and items they've got to apologize to the people they killed!"

"And how exactly is that even remotely true?" Camilla challenged.

"Did you hear a word I said or are you just deaf?"

"No. I did but what you're spouting is complete idiocy."

"Wh – What the… and just who the hell are you, bitch?!"

"Knightwalker. And I am someone who was helped by Betas. In fact, every one of us here has been helped by one."

"Yeah right!"

Camilla smashed one of the guidebooks in his face.

A large, dark-skinned, bald, muscular man then stood up. "I'm Agil. I'd like to say somethin' too," he announced before pulling out another guidebook. "This guidebook is bein' sold in all the shops. You got one, right?"

Kibau stiffened. "U – Uh… yeah…"

"I assume you got it for free?"

"… Yeah…"

"You know who's been spendin' their money to hand these things out?"

"No."

"Beta testers."

Presa then challenged, "And you want to know who's kept the guidebooks updated with info on the bosses and quests?"

"Wh – Who…?" Kibau mumbled.

"Beta testers."

Agil added, "They're all trapped here, same as us. And they can't clear the game on their own. Sure, there might be some who hoard stuff for themselves, but most just want out, just like everyone else."

Camilla interjected, "And the beta testers can't hold our hands and help us with everything which is why the guidebooks exist. So we can gain knowledge from their experience. Those that died where those that used that knowledge poorly."

"Not to mention the Beta-Testers are more skilled and used to this world than us," Presa remarked. "I'd rather have them getting the best gear than me because they would be able to put it to the best of use."

Kibau snarled angrily.

"Anything else to add?" Diavel asked.

"Tch…" Kibau hissed before sitting down.

"Good. Now then…" he continued.

As the others sat down, Jude turned to the girls. "You didn't have to do that."

Camilla smiled warmly. "But of course we had to darling."

Presa nodded in agreement. "You're right, we didn't have to. We wanted to. I wasn't going to sit by and let that fool drag you through the mud."

Jude sighed as Diavel continued, "Right. Here's the info we have on the floor boss. Illfang the Kobold Lord. He's surrounded by his minions the Ruin Kobold Sentinels. When his HP reaches the red he throws his current weapons away in favor of a talwar."

Jude narrowed his eyes suspiciously. ' _Wait, why didn't he mention the possibility the weapon could be different? That is one of the biggest warnings I put in the guide. He should have mentioned it if he read it. Lest he didn't… Or maybe… He's a beta tester… But then why…? Wait…could he be a…_ '

"So, everyone understand?"

The crowd all nodded in agreement.

"Then we'll meet here at ten AM tomorrow to begin the raid."

Jude narrowed his eyes in thought as the crowd dispersed. "That man… is a Beta-Tester…"

"He is?" Leia asked.

Jude nodded. "Yes… And one that is using everyone."

"What do you mean?" the hooded girl asked.

"He never mentioned anything about the possibility of a weapon change. Meaning he might be trying to set himself up as a hero."

"Is it that likely that it'll be different?"

"Most games change some things to make it different from the Beta. Especially big boss fights. It's a way to make sure beta testers don't have all the advantages."

Presa added, "Then I guess we'll be ready for anything."

Jude nodded in agreement. "Yeah. We will have to be."

* * *

Later, after night fell, Jude walked around the town in thought before noticing the hooded girl sitting on a bench eating a bread roll. "Huh? Oh, hey Asuna."

"Hm?" she hummed, continuing to eat.

"That's pretty good, isn't it?"

"Not really…"

"I got a couple things that make it taste even better."

"Huh?"

Jude panned through his menu before putting a small pot next to her.

Asuna looked at the pot and then poked it, causing a small orb of light to appear on her finger. Spreading her finger over the bread, a strip of cream formed on it. "Cream…?"

"Yeah. I got it in a quest near here, Heifer's Revenge. I can show you if you want."

"I'm not here to eat good food," she rebuffed coldly.

Jude shrugged lightly. "Good food makes the stay a little more bearable."

Asuna frowned slightly. "Maybe. But I don't intend on staying here. I plan to get out. I don't want to lose myself by staying here and cowering with fear."

"You won't. But it won't be quick on getting out either. We won't be getting out any time soon."

"I know. But if I get complacent… then it'll beat me. I'm going to keep fighting. Even if I'm killed by one of those monsters, I won't lose to this game."

"Stop that line of thought."

"What?" she rebuffed in annoyance.

"You can't keep thinking such a depressing thought. If you keep trying harder and harder to beat the game on your own, you'll burn yourself out and lose. You shouldn't focus on the possibility of dying. Instead you should think, what will I do tomorrow. Keep your mind on more positive thoughts. They will help keep you alive. And help you stay sane when we leave."

Asuna frowned before nodding slowly. "… Okay. Ah, hey, Mister, how do you know my name?"

"It's in the HUD. It's on my HUD after you joined my party."

"Huh…?"

Jude sighed and then pointed his hand toward where his health bar floated in front of him. "Right about… here, under your own health bar, there should be a few more."

"Hhmm… Sergio?"

"Yup. That's my username."

"Ah… Jill… Toyotama… Knightwalker."

"Jill is the blonde. Toyotama is the brunette. And Knightwalker is the purplette."

"Right. What about those two monsters with you?"

"Partners. And the Lamia is named Miia while the Dragon is Horo."

"Wow…" Asuna muttered in shock.

Jude nodded with a chuckle. "Yeah. Anyway we should go. Hey, I need to stop by Liz's shop and see if she can outfit the Raid Groups."

"Uh… okay?"

* * *

Jude sighed as he walked into Liz's shop and saw the girl herself, though he noticed exhausted bags under her eyes. "Liz?" he asked with worry.

Liz sleepily responded, "Welcome to Liz's Smith Shop, how can I help you?"

Jude blinked in confusion. "Um, Liz…? It's me, Sergio."

Liz blinked in thought as she looked him over. "Sergio…? You're… shorter…"

"And you're cuter."

Liz immediately stiffened and turned red. "Wh – What…?!"

"Huh?"

"N – Nothing! Wh – What do you need?"

"Weapons and armor for the First Floor Raiding Party."

"Right… wait, raiding party!?"

"Um… yeah…?"

"Y – You're gonna take on the floor boss?!"

"Yes. We've got a Party all set up. Now we need to get them equipped. And I figured you're the best smith for the job."

Liz blushed brightly and nodded with determination. "R – Right! I'll do my best!"

"Thanks. I also managed to gather up some ore to in case you need it."

"Okay! I'll uh… try to make sure it's not so fragile this time."

"That wasn't your fault. The monster that shattered it was over powered."

Liz frowned with disappointment. "Still…"

"Hey, cheer up or I'll go elsewhere."

She immediately returned with a bright smile. "Right!"

"Good." Smiling, he put a bag of Cor on the table. "Here's the payment for it in case you need the money to get more materials."

She gaped at the huge bag.

"What?"

"J – Just how much do you have!?"

"A lot. I know how to make money after all."

"A – Ah…"

Jude waved as he left. "See you at eight tomorrow!"

She waved as he left with a smile. "'Kay!" After a moment she blinked in thought. "… EEEHHH!?"

* * *

The next morning, Diavel stood, surrounded by the gathered players for the raid. "Okay, the party's all set, so let's get going."

The entire group was then distracted by a loud shriek.

"WWWAAAIIITTT!" Liz shrieked as she ran towards the group with a cart behind her.

Jude smiled excitedly. "Liz! You made it!"

Liz, huffing in exhaustion and covered in sweat, looked at Jude with a weak smile. "I… I'm sorry I'm late…"

Diavel frowned as he looked at her. "Who are you? You're not with the raiding party."

"She isn't. She's a Smith I know. I had put in an order with her to make some top quality equipment for the Raiding Party."

"Huh?"

"And… there!" Liz cheered before dumping the cart full of weapons.

One of the players picked up a sword and looked at it in surprise. "Whoa! This sword's stats are amazing!"

"So's this ax!" another cheered.

"Wow!" a third hollered.

Jude smiled as he turned to Liz. "Great work as always Liz."

After a moment of thought, Liz held up a large black box. "Hey, Sergio."

Jude looked at it curiously. "Huh? What's this?"

"It's a sword I made for you. It's not much, just some orichalcum mixed with steel, but it's really sharp and has some decent weight behind it."

Jude smiled as he looked at the large black blade. "Thanks Liz. You didn't have to do that for me." He then reached into his inventory for some money.

Liz grabbed his hand and forced it down. "I do favors for friends."

Miia immediately spat a drink out in shock.

"Where'd you even get that!?" Asuna shrieked.

Presa sighed in exasperation.

Jude smiled appreciatively as he looked at the blade. "Thanks. This'll help a lot."

Liz smiled before turning slightly red. "Y – You're welcome!"

Asuna frowned slightly as she looked at the others. "He doesn't…?"

"Not a clue," Presa muttered.

"Denser than a diamond," Leia commented.

Camilla nodded in agreement. "Yeah, diamonds are definitely softer."

"What about diamonds?" Jude muttered.

"Nothing," Leia rebutted.

Liz shifted lightly as she blushed. "So, uh… good luck."

Jude nodded with a smile. "Thanks. Same to you Liz. And thanks again for the sword."

Diavel looked over the group and nodded in acceptance. "Alright, our first goal is to reach the top of the tower where the boss room is."

"Should be easy," Jude remarked.

* * *

Later on, Jude, Camilla, and the large group of players gathered in front of the large tower that reached high into the sky.

"This is it?" Leia muttered in confusion.

"Yeah," Jude remarked. "I'm sure it is."

Presa hummed in thought as the group entered the tower.

"What's wrong?" Asuna questioned.

Presa explained, "It's strange. We have one of the strongest parties, and yet we're far in the back, away from the boss."

Jude frowned angrily. "I think I know why. That greedy bastard."

Leia looked at him curiously. "Huh? Why do you say that?"

"He doesn't want us in the fight so he can get the last hit."

"Pompous fool," Horo growled.

"And a mean one!" Miia added.

"Indeed," Camilla interjected.

Jude put up a hand. "Let's leave it alone for now."

"Fine," Horo mumbled. "Let's just go and deal with the fatass then."

* * *

Shortly later, the group stood as a massive door opened, leading into an even more massive, unlit room comprised primarily of a single, long hallway.

"This… is a big room…" Leia mumbled in awe.

"Where's the boss?" Asuna questioned.

"At the other end of the room," Jude explained. "You'll see him soon."

The lights in the room suddenly went bright, revealing Illfang, a massive, red and blue beast seated at a throne with a ax and shield in its grasp.

"Wh – Whoa…" Leia remarked in awe.

Camilla smirked slightly. "Huh. An easy target."

"Here it comes!" Diavel howled as Illfang stood.

"Get ready," Jude urged as he drew his sword, holding it with one hand despite it being so large. "Knightwalker, Jill, give us ranged support. Toyotama, cover them. Asuna, you're with me."

"Understood!" they all answered instantly as smaller beasts appeared around Illfang, the Sentinels.

The group all charged towards Illfang and the Sentinels.

Leia smacked one of the Sentinels with her spear before ducking under its ax, sweeping at its legs and then stabbing it in the heart, killing it.

Jude and Asuna charged through the barrage of Sentinels, Jude sending a powerful slash at one before Asuna charged ahead of him and cut it in half.

Presa and Camilla remained at the back of the group, Presa throwing out daggers as Camilla fired powerful shots from her spear, striking multiple Sentinels as Jude and Asuna made their way through them.

"There's so many of these things!" one player snarled as he blocked one of the Sentinels with his shield before another swung at him from behind.

"No!" a second player howled as he attempted to kill the beast.

Jude snarled angrily as he Diavel and a small group of other players charge ahead, engaging Illfang in direct combat. ' _He's seriously being that self-centered…_ ' Jude looked to the side as another two Sentinels charged at him and Asuna.

Asuna slashed at one before ducking its ax, the attack grabbing at the hood she wore, pulling it away.

Jude widened his eyes as he got a close look at Asuna, a girl with long, flowing, knee-length, chestnut brown hair, tied back into a small ponytail by two braids, her fringe parted just above her forehead, ending just over her hazel eyes, wearing a basic red vest over a white tunic that tightly hugged her modest figure, a red, pleated skirt, white tights, and tall, brown, leather boots. "Whoa…"

Asuna turned to him with mild confusion. "What are you looking at?! Keep fighting!"

"O – Oh, right!" he muttered before dodging another Sentinel and then decapitating it.

Diavel growled as he knocked down another Sentinel before dodging another of Illfang's swings. "Team G, keep those Sentinels off us!"

Jude narrowed his eyes as he defended from another strike. ' _He truly is after it._ '

"What do you think we're trying to do!?" Leia howled.

Jude ducked before slashing at two Sentinels in front of him, killing them.

Diavel narrowed his eyes as Illfang howled. "Get ready! He's in the red!"

Illfang roared before throwing down his ax and shield, pulling a nodachi from his back holster.

"I knew it!" Jude howled before charging. "Stop! That's not a talwar! It's a nodachi!"

"This won't end well," Presa commented as she lazily threw a dagger at Sentinel.

Illfang started swinging his sword wildly, the blade lighting up bright red as he sent powerful attacks in all directions, taking out multiple players around him.

"Shit!" Jude cursed as he rushed towards the others, watching as Diavel charged ahead of the other players at Illfang. "Greedy idiot!"

Illfang leapt from the ground to a nearby pillar and then down at Diavel, readying his sword.

"Fall back now!"

Illfang then hit Diavel with four powerful blows in succession before slamming him into the ground, sending him bouncing along the ground before sliding to a stop at Jude's feet.

"He's dead," Camilla remarked coldly.

Jude rushed to Diavel's side and pulled out a potion before Diavel pushed his hand away. "Huh?"

Diavel groaned as he turned to Jude weakly. "No, don't. You have to help the others…"

"I know. Your plan to get the last hit bounty failed miserably."

Diavel chuckled faintly. "Y – Yeah… it did…"

"You didn't even bother reading the book did you. Your greed and unwillingness to provide true information led you to this point."

"I – I didn't think… they'd actually change it… please… take it down…"

"I already plan to. And if you were a true Beta Tester you'd know that they always add changes."

Diavel nodded slowly before his body glimmered and then shattered into fragments.

Jude tightened his fists before he stood and scowled at Illfang. "Now then…" he growled before he sheathed his sword and raised his fists, "it's time to finish this!" he hollered before charging at the huge beast.

"You idiot!" Kibau shouted. "What are you doing!?"

"He's taking things seriously," Camilla illuminated.

Jude dodged a swing from Illfang before lashing out with a powerful kick to its abdomen, sending the monster sliding back.

"Wh – What!?" Kibau howled.

Illfang growled angrily before swinging at Jude.

Jude leapt up, landed on the end of Illfang's and ran up it, jumping at Illfang's face and slamming a fist into its eye, knocking the monster on its back.

Asuna gaped in disbelief before Presa interjected, "Don't just gawk, let's get moving!"

Asuna stiffened before turning to her. "H – Huh?! Right!"

Presa threw out several daggers as Illfang stood, stabbing out its eye entirely, Camilla firing shots at Illfang's knees, knocking it forward whilst Leia and Asuna rushed at it, slicing it with several powerful slashes.

Jude turned and hollered, "Asuna, Leia, sweep his legs!"

Asuna and Leia charged with a unified attack, hitting the beast's legs, knocking it back once more, Jude jumping up once more onto Illfang's sword before charging at it.

Agil gaped in disbelief. "This guy's nuts! There aren't even any Skills for barehanded!"

Another player next to him gulped in horror. "Y – Yeah… how's he doing this…?"

Jude leapt onto Illfang's head, raised his fists high, "Take this!" and then slammed both fists down hard into Illfang's face, causing the beast to collapse back, howling in agony. "It ends now!" Jude bellowed as he clasped his fists together and slammed them down with immense force, crushing the beast's skull and carving a dent in the floor, killing the monster.

"Whoa…" Asuna mumbled in awe as the beast shattered and vanished, the crowd around Jude cheering wildly.

Jude sighed and slumped back on the floor. "First floor is finally over…"

"Stop cheering!" Kibau suddenly shouted.

"Why man? We won!" one of the players shouted.

Kibau scowled at Jude with venom. "Why'd you do it, huh? Why'd you let Diavel die!?"

Jude frowned in response. "… I didn't…"

"Yeah right! Admit it! You knew the technique the boss was gonna use! You could've told us! Then Diavel would've stood a chance! He wouldn't have had to die!"

Camilla narrowed her eyes and gripped her lance tighter.

"I didn't know!" Jude argued.

Another player scowled and retorted, "Yeah he did, and I know why! He used to be a beta-tester! Think about it, he knew the boss' attack patterns! He knew, but he kept it from us! And I bet he's not the only beta-tester here! Come on, show yourselves!"

"Idiots," Camilla cursed as the other players started looking around suspiciously.

Jude tightened his fists with anxiety. ' _This is bad…_ '

"Are you all idiots!?" Presa accused.

Jude looked around tensely. ' _At this rate…_ ' He then noticed the reward icon appear before him from Illfang, the Cloak of Midnight. ' _Guess it's the only thing left…_ ' Jude then gathered the attention of all the other players as he started cackling madly.

Presa frowned in irritation. ' _Jude, don't even_ think _it._ '

Jude stood in front of the group with a defiant smirk. "So you guys think I'm a beta-tester, eh? You insult me by putting me in the same class as those newbs. For I am something greater. I am a –"

Camilla walked behind him and hit him over the head with her staff, knocking him to the floor. "He really needs to put a filter on that thing."

"H – Hey… Why you do that…?"

"To stop you from doing something needlessly stupid."

"But…"

Camilla bonked him atop the head lightly. "No buts." She then turned to the crowd with a scowl. "Alright, now listen up you idiots! That Diavel you're so fond of was a cheat."

"H – Huh?" one of the players muttered.

"He lied to you and withheld important information that was in the guide and purposefully kept the best units out of the battle with the boss for his own greed."

Jude groaned as he stood weakly. "Camilla… stop…"

"No. They need to hear this. All of you open up your guide books."

"Bullshit!" Kibau snarled.

One of the other players opened his guidebook and looked in it before stiffening. "H – Huh? Th – This is…"

"What!?" Kibau growled out.

"It says here that the boss' weapon may be different than the Beta."

Kibau growled angrily. "… But then… why'd Diavel lie…?"

"Because he was a beta tester full of greed and arrogance," Presa retorted.

Jude clenched his fists as he stood. "Camilla… why…?"

Camilla sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Because my sweet little brother, you were being an idiot."

"But…"

"But nothing. Now stop trying to ostracize yourself."

"I can't just let them…"

"Let us do the talking darling."

"But now they're going to doubt and distrust each other. It'd have been better if they aligned themselves hating me than fall apart with suspicion."

Camilla knocked him atop the head with greater force. "Do. Not. Say. Such. Things."

Presa retorted, "You think that would really stop them from being suspicious? No. It wouldn't with people like Kibau who rouse them and Diavel who exploit them. And you would only make things worse."

Jude grit his teeth angrily. "But at least it would've given them a chance…"

One of the players then turned to Kibau and snarled, "Hey, Kibau, apologize!"

Kibau stiffened in surprise. "Huh? What for!?"

Another player growled, "Sergio was about to take the fall for Diavel just to save your stupid ass."

"H – Huh?!"

"Huh?" Jude mumbled.

"U – Uh…"

"Yeah!" another growled.

Presa glanced at Jude with a smirk. "See? Throwing yourself on the fire isn't the only option. Sometimes it pays off to throw someone under the bus. Especially when they fit so nicely."

Jude sighed. "… Yeah, I guess…"

"So… don't do such stupid decisions again. Got it? If you do, I'll make sure you will _always_ have extra homework."

Jude paled. "Y – Yes, ma'am!" After a moment he chuckled weakly. "Though I'd gladly take on extra homework if it could get everyone outta this game."

Presa sighed in exasperation. "Your history of selflessness is going to get you killed, you know that?"

"… Maybe? Isn't that what your all here for? To keep me grounded?" Jude frowned in thought as he mulled her words. "Wait, I wonder… Does it still exist? I haven't checked in a long time but…"

Leia looked at him confused. "Huh? What exist? You alright?"

"Yes, I am," Jude retorted before Agil approached.

"Hey, Sergio, thanks for your help," Agil praised.

"You're welcome."

"On finishing off the boss. And getting that smith friend of yours to outfit the group. I bet there would have been a lot of casualties if not for her gear."

"… Don't thank me, thank Liz. It's her skill that got you guys those weapons. I just gave her the gold."

"You're still the one who got her to do it."

"Maybe. I'm just glad that this many people made it out alive. I don't like the fact that we lost Diavel. He was a double-crosser and a liar but he was still a human. And I swear that when I find that… thing, I'll make it pay for every single person it's killed."

The girls all sighed in exasperation.

"What?"

Agil chuckled weakly. "Geez kid. Way to try and kill the mood. Just try and celebrate a bit. We won a major victory today."

Camilla smirked playfully. "Yes, we should be celebrating darling."

Jude glanced back at Asuna, her cloaked now removed, and looked her over in thought once more before gulping.

Asuna looked back at him with confusion. "What?"

Jude shook his head firmly. "N – Nothing…" ' _It can't be…_ '

Camilla looked over the girl in thought before frowning. ' _Wait… Oh… Oh dear…_ '

"What's wrong?" Leia interjected.

Camilla rebutted, "Nothing you need to worry about."

Presa frowned suspiciously as Miia grabbed one of Jude's arms. "Mmoouu… Darling, let's go!"

Agil chuckled lightly in amusement as he slapped Jude's back appreciatively. "Woman problems?"

Jude looked at him curiously. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Agil blinked and then merely snickered again. "You'll find out soon enough kid."

"Okay…?"

* * *

Shortly later, Jude, Camilla, Miia, Horo, Leia, Presa, and Asuna left the tower, out to the second floor.

Jude groaned as he looked around. "Geez… I don't remember floor two being this big… Could have sworn it was smaller…"

Leia frowned and rebutted, "You _did_ say they change things from the Betas."

"… True. Hey, Asuna, how come you're still with our party?"

Asuna stiffened slightly before looking at the ground. "W – Well… I – It's just easier than… f – finding a new party…"

"Ah. I see. Makes sense."

Presa sighed before the group was suddenly distracted by a cracking twig nearby.

"Huh?" Leia mumbled.

"What was that?" Presa questioned.

Jude tensed and reached for his blade. "Get ready… something is coming…" However, no sooner had he spoke before something jumped from the bushes and tackled him in a tight hug. "Gah!" he grunted as he fell.

"Jude!" Leia, Presa, and Camilla shouted.

Jude released only muffled grunts as his face was sandwiched between two soft mounds.

"Ffoouunndd yyoouu," a playful voice chanted.

Presa and Camilla slapped their hands over their faces in exasperation. "Of course it's a woman…"

Jude shouted out with more muffled grunts.

"Darling!" Miia shrieked as Horo grabbed the woman.

"Who the hell are you?" Horo demanded as she held the woman who swiftly and deftly left the dragon's grasp and pinned her to the ground before patting her head softly.

"Be good," the woman remarked playfully before standing.

Horo growled as Jude sat up and looked at the woman, seeing a young woman with short, shoulder-length, wavy, lavender hair, two long strands framing her face, ending just above her sizable bosom, one of which had a noticeable mole on it, her fringe ending just above her red-violet eyes, wearing a lilac, low-cut, strapless dress, black armor wrapping tightly around her upper back and breasts, connecting to a coat with lavender emblems, plum stockings connecting to garters under her dress, and black, high-heeled shoes.

Leia glared at the woman angrily, her bosom in particular.

Jude, gasping for air, asked, "Who are you…?"

"Huh?" the lavender-haired woman mumbled before nodding in understanding. "Name's Strea."

"I see… Why are you here? I mean, tackling me in the middle of the forest?"

"Oh right!" Strea shouted before grabbing his hand. "Oh that is simple Jude!"

Jude raised an eyebrow in thought. ' _How does she…?_ '

"I saw you during that last boss battle, and during a few battles before that. So I thought I'd finally get close."

"Okay…? Wait… I didn't see you during the last battle though. Or the gatherings before that."

"That's because I hid."

Horo interjected, "Humph, you must have a pretty high stealth skill of you can hide from my senses."

Strea giggled lightly in amusement. "Oh I assure you I am vvveeerrryyy stealthy. Wouldn't want anyone to know 'bout what you do in the inn every night after you see Jude exit a shower right?"

Horo stiffened in terror. "EEK! Sh – Shut thy mouth!"

Strea grinned playfully. "Then don't try to insult my sneakiness. I'm Planeptune's best stealth type."

"Planeptune?" the others asked in disbelief.

"Is that a Guild?" Jude questioned.

Strea shook her head. "Nope! It's a place."

"I see…"

Presa interjected, "Let's go find a town to rest at. We haven't had the chance to recuperate since that boss battle."

"Aaww…"

"And you can _fully_ explain what's going on here then as well."

"Maybe. But… Well… not sure if we have the time for that."

"Why not?" Jude questioned.

"Histy's probably got a lock on me and you right now and is gonna teleport us away."

"Histy?" Jude's eyes suddenly widened in disbelief. "Wait, you can't mean –"

However, before he could finish his thought, he, Strea, and Asuna were suddenly engulfed in light before vanishing.

"Jude!" Presa exclaimed in horror.

* * *

Jude groaned as he sat up and looked around and saw a forest surrounding them. "Ow…"

"What happened…?" Asuna groaned as she awoke as well and looked around.

Jude sat up suddenly and looked around. "Wait… where are we?"

Strea smiled happily. "Ah! Home sweet home!"

"Huh?"

"Gamindustri."

Asuna retorted, "That's an awful name."

"Yeah," Jude added.

Strea pouted lightly. "Come on, let's go to the Basilicom."

"Basili what?"

"I can explain better once we're there."

"Right…"

* * *

Soon after, Jude, Asuna, and Strea stood in front of a large, regal, multicolored structure that was many meters tall.

"This is…" Jude mumbled in disbelief.

"Amazing…" Asuna added.

Strea interjected, "Well? Let's go in. Histy's waiting."

Asuna frowned slightly. "Who's His –"

"Look out below!" a new voice suddenly exclaimed.

Jude looked up suddenly before a person landed on him harshly. After a moment, he sat up and then gaped slightly as he saw a young woman with long, waist-length, wavy, bright lavender hair that flared out widely, her fringe and bangs surrounding her dark violet eyes, wearing a long, hip-length white hoodie with blue and purple accents, that just barely covered her nethers, the neck unzipped enough to reveal a portion of her moderate cleavage, white d-clips in her hair, and white and purple boots.

Strea laughed weakly as she looked at the woman. "Hello, Lady Purple Heart."

"Huh? Oh hey Stray!" the woman cheered.

"The heck…?" Jude mumbled as he looked at the woman, inadvertently catching a glimpse at her white and blue striped panties as she straddled him.

"Who is this?" Asuna questioned.

"Name's Neptune!" the woman greeted. She then looked at Jude and Asuna in thought. "Who are these two?"

Strea explained, "Histy sent me out to get one. The other got caught up in the teleport. The cute guy is Jude Mathis and his girlfriend is Asuna."

The duo blushed heavily.

Jude retorted abashedly, "W – We just met!"

Strea merely grinned knowingly.

Asuna blinked in thought. "Wait, I thought your username is Sergio."

Jude nodded in response. "It is. My name is Jude though."

"Your real name?"

"Yeah. It is. Wait, did you think Sergio was my real name?"

"Um… yeah. I thought everyone uses their real name. I did."

Jude groaned before slapping a hand over his face in exasperation. "… Unbelievable…"

Neptune tilted her head in confusion. "So uh… What y –" she began to ask before getting tackled in a hug.

"Neptune, are you okay?!" gasped a girl with the same, long, though straight, lilac hair, her bangs framing her face, ending just above her petite bust, her fringe stopping just over her matching eyes, wearing a white and purple hoodie, a single white d-clip in her hair, long, white and pink stockings, and white and purple boots.

"Nep Jr.!" Neptune exclaimed in surprise.

The new girl checked over Neptune hurriedly. "Are you okay?! You didn't hurt yourself did you?!"

Neptune waved a hand dismissively with a grin. "Nah, I'm the Main Character, so I can't get hurt by something like that!"

"But still…"

Jude waved a hand to get the others' attention. "Um… hello?"

"Huh? Oh goodness! I'm sorry I didn't see you!"

"Yeah, hi… I'm Jude."

"I'm Nepgear."

"Asuna," the brunette greeted.

"Nice to meet you," Nepgear added.

Neptune cheered, "I'm Neptune! But I know that's kinda hard so you can call me Nep-Nep."

"We already know that," Jude remarked. "Um… okay, Neptune. So where is Histoire?"

Strea added, "Doing Lady Purple Heart's paperwork most likely."

"Let's go."

After heading inside the large tower, the group looked around in awe.

"This place is huge…" Asuna muttered in shock.

"Yep! Welcome to ma house!" Neptune cheered.

"So this is… that Basilica thing?"

Strea nodded in affirmation. "Yep. The center of Planeptune's government."

Neptune added, "And my house. Oh, and Nep Jr.'s seeing as she's my li'l sis."

"There you are, Neptune," a new voice interjected before a small girl, less than half the size of a normal person, with waist-length, wavy, light blonde hair that curled at the ends, held in pigtails, with bright blue eyes wearing a purple and white cap, a purple and gold, short dress, matching detached sleeves, and thigh-high white boots, with large, blue, butterfly-like wings behind her, riding atop a floating book entered the room.

"Histoire?" Jude mumbled in surprise.

The small, floating girl, Histoire, turned to Jude in shock. "Papa!?"

Neptune and Nepgear gaped slightly in disbelief. "Papa?!"

"Eh…?" Asuna mumbled.

"You're her papa!?" Neptune exclaimed.

Jude shrugged lightly. "In a way you could say that."

"Whoa…"

"What?"

"I thought Histy's Papa would be… shorter."

"Huh?"

"I mean, you are short but I'd thought you'd be shorter than that."

Jude tilted his head in confusion. "That's… good? I guess. A – Anyway that isn't important. Why'd you bring me here so suddenly?"

Histoire sighed and interrupted the discussion. "I need your help."

Jude nodded in return. "Actually, I could use yours too."

"Huh? What for?"

"Let's get somewhere to sit and then I'll explain."

Neptune nodded with a grin. "Okay! To my room!"

* * *

Shortly later, the group stood in a large room with an immense television taking up most of the floor space, a black and purple game console in the center.

"Wow…" Asuna muttered in awe.

Jude merely gazed at the console in confusion. "That's weird… It looks like a…"

"A what?"

"A game console. An advanced generation of one that's been discontinued actually from the look and emblem."

"I see…"

"Okay, I'll start with the problem on our end, is that okay?" Histoire questioned.

Jude nodded. "Sure it is, Histoire."

"Well, you see, right now the four nations are embroiled in war, and if this continues they won't last."

"Four nations?"

"Oh, that's right. You don't know anything about the current Gamindustri, do you?"

Jude shook his head in denial. "Not at all or why the Hollow Area is called that."

"Ah… this will take a while then. I can't quite pinpoint when the name changed, but this place is now called Gamindustri. It is made of four nations. Planeptune, Lastation, Leanbox, and Lowee."

Jude groaned as he sat down.

"What?"

Jude waved a hand lightly. "Nothing, continue."

Histoire nodded in mild confusion. "Each land has a Goddess, also called a CPU or Console Patron Unit. Purple Heart, Black Heart, Green Heart, and White Heart."

"And just like that I can tell which nation is in the worst shape…"

"Yeah…" Histoire grumbled in agreement.

Neptune tilted her head in bewilderment. "Which nation is that? 'Cuz Nowa works wwwaaayyy too much if you ask me."

"Nowa?" Jude asked.

Histoire explained, "Noire. The CPU of Lastation."

"Ah…"

"She is a dedicated and hardworking Goddess."

"And a Tsundere!" Neptune added.

"… I assume her nation is the most well off," Jude remarked.

"Yes," Histoire added.

"Right. Anyway, continue please."

"The four Goddesses compete against one another for Share Energy. Share Energy is based on the faith of the people. The more faith they have, the more power the Goddesses have."

Jude frowned in thought. "I see. You brought me here to stop the fighting then."

"Yes. I'm not sure how we can though. The people have started fighting each other to reduce the number of worshippers the other Goddesses have."

"Hmm… Then I have the perfect idea."

Histoire tilted her head curiously. "And that is what?"

"A worldwide public peace accord with all four Goddesses personally attending."

"… Ah."

Neptune grinned with excitement. "Right! It will be a giant party!"

* * *

Sometime later, Jude sat at a large desk looking over a stack of papers. "Hmm… This is everything you have on the nations?"

Histoire nodded in response. "Yes, it is."

"I see. And only one Goddess doesn't have a Candidate. Or little sister."

"Yeah."

"Must be lonely for her then."

Neptune waved a hand dismissively. "Nah, she's a gamehead."

Jude raised an eyebrow with intrigue. "Oh?"

Nepgear added, "She plays video games all day."

Histoire turned to her with annoyance. "And you don't?"

Nepgear stiffened and then laughed weakly. "W – Well… I – I only play when Neptune asks me to…"

"Right…" Histoire muttered.

Jude scratched his chin in consternation. "Now, how to set all this up."

Neptune dialed on her phone furiously. "Done."

Histoire frowned in concern. "Neptune… What did you d –?"

Suddenly, one of the large screens nearby lit up with the visage of a young woman with long, long, flowing black hair tied in twintails, kept in place by blue and black ribbons, dark red eyes, and fair skin, wearing a maid-like black top with gold trimmings that revealed a large amount of her fair bust, a black choker with a blue ribbon, black arm warmers with white frills, and thigh-high, dark blue boots with blue garters. "You can't be serious!"

"I'm always serious, Noire," Neptune answered with a smile, resulting in the others sending her a look of incredulity. "Seriously cute!"

The others slapped their hands over their faces in exasperation.

Jude chuckled weakly. "A – Anyway Ms. Noire, we are."

Noire noticed him with interest. "Huh? Who's that?"

"God!" Neptune cheered.

"Huh?" Jude muttered.

Noire frowned in annoyance. "No seriously. Who is he?"

Histoire explained, "The one who made me, my father."

"Ah… so he is God."

Jude groaned heavily. "… Good grief…"

"A god?" Asuna questioned.

"They're computer programs and I made them. Well, I made the first ones. The program is their world and I made it, sort of like how some people believe our world was made by an omnipotent being."

"So… you _are_ God here."

Jude sighed before shrugging dismissively. "To them, yes. But I'm not. I'm just… a guy. And it's not like I can alter the world… Wait…"

"Huh?" Histoire hummed.

"Nothing…" ' _I'll have to check and see if I still have admin rights._ '

"Oh! That's right, you wanted help with something too."

"Yeah. But we should finish talking with Ms. Noire here first."

"About this treaty?" asked Noire.

Jude nodded in affirmation. "Yeah. To stop the fighting."

Noire raised an intrigued eyebrow. "Amongst us or the people?"

"Both," Jude answered shortly, causing Noire to blink in surprise. "The peace treaty is just a temporary solution until I find a better one. And the best way to make it work is if you and the others personally attend."

"Ah."

"So will you help beautiful?"

Noire's face instantly flashed red. "H – Huh?! What's with that all of a sudden?!"

Jude flinched back in surprise. "S – Sorry! J – Just that you're pretty and it slipped out…"

Her face turned even redder. "E – Eh?!"

"S – Sorry! I – I'm shutting up now!"

Neptune snickered in amusement.

Histoire sighed in mild annoyance. "Same old papa…"

Jude sighed in relief after Noire vanished. "So that's done, who's next?"

"Vert!" Neptune chirped.

"Right. The fellow gamer."

Neptune looked at him, intrigued. "You one too?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"God's a gamer…" Neptune noted in awe.

"And you aren't?" Histoire rebutted.

"This is different!"

Suddenly, two more figures entered the room.

The first was a young woman with long, waist-length, wavy, congo-pink hair with big, bright eyes of the same color wearing a tan-white, wool, sleeveless sweater that hugged her torso tightly, her sizable bosom accentuated, matching, full-length arm warmers, a red, plaid skirt, black-brown knee socks, tan-white boots with fuzzy balls on the tops, a black choker with a pink heart pin, a black hip purse, and a black headband with a large, beige "C" on one side.

The second was a fair skinned girl who was noticeably short, with bright green eyes and long, pale brown hair that extended down to her waist, several strands hanging down, framing her face, with a side ponytail held by a bright green ribbon, wearing a black tank top and matching shorts with silver trimming, an overly large blue coat with silver buttons and matching trimming that was so oversized the sleeves extended past her hands, a loose belt strap hang around the coat holding nine different cellphones, medium-length black socks, and blue boots with silver trimming.

"What's different?" the second girl asked.

Neptune pointed at Jude with a bright smile. "It's God!"

"… Eh?"

Jude noticed the duo and asked, "Who are these two?"

"I'm IF," the second girl answered, "and this is Compa."

"Are you feeling alright Nep-Nep?" Compa asked with worry.

"Yeppers!" Neptune chirped.

"Right…" IF muttered.

"Come on God! Back me up here while I dial Vert!"

"I'm not God," Jude argued.

Ignoring him, Neptune remarked, "Yeah keep tellin' yourself that God. Aaannnddd done."

A new person then appeared on the screen.

Jude saw a woman with long, hip-length, wavy blonde hair, a small part tied back in a braid with a green bow, her bangs hanging down and framing her face, falling just above her deep purple eyes, ending above her luscious orbs, wearing a long, ankle-length dress with a sleeveless, low-cut, green top that revealed a large portion of her bust, slightly occluded by a thin veil connected to a large, white and green collar, the dress' white skirt having pointed edges with gold and peach accents, elbow-length, white gloves with large frills on the edge, and knee-length, high-heeled, green boots.

"… Beautiful…" he muttered as he drank in the woman's visage, causing Asuna to frown slightly.

The blonde noticed Jude curiously. "Hm? Who are you?"

"God!" Neptune chirped!

The woman frowned in confusion. "… Histoire, explain."

Histoire nodded in understanding. "Yes, Vert. He created me."

"So, God."

Jude sighed in exasperation. "I'm just a guy…"

Vert giggled lightly in amusement. "And a very fine one."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Histoire sighed in frustration before Vert noted, "You certainly have a handsome father."

Jude stiffened in surprise. "M – Me? I – I'm not all that good looking…"

Vert turned back to Histoire. "Is he always like this?"

Histoire sighed heavily. "Yes…"

"Handsome, talented, and adorable."

Jude stiffened, blushed, and stammered in embarrassment.

"Fufu, very adorable."

Asuna twitched an eyebrow in irritation. "Can you focus?"

Jude shook his head clear of distraction. "O – Okay… So… are you in?"

"In what?" Vert rebutted.

"Didn't Neptune tell you?"

Vert shook her head in response and raised her phone to show a textless message filled with emotes. "No. She texted me."

Jude gaped slightly. "What even is all that…? It reminds me of Leia's texting… So many emojis…"

Vert nodded in agreement. "And that is why I called to see what you wanted. So, tell me what you wanted."

"To host a public peace accord."

"Peace accord?"

"Yes," he replied before pulling up a display showing an image of a large arena filled with seats. "One featuring all the Goddesses in attendance to sign it publicly to stop all the needless fighting."

Vert hummed in thought. "Hm… it would give me more time for gaming than diplomacy. Okay, I'm in."

Jude nodded in understanding. "Good. We could even talk about MMOs afterwards."

Vert smiled with intrigue. "Oh that sounds most fun."

"Right. Talk to you later beautiful."

Vert giggled lightly in amusement. "And he's a charmer too."

Asuna twitched an eyebrow before Vert vanished.

"Now Lowee," Jude noted.

At that moment a young-looking, petite woman with short, chin-length brown hair, her fringe parted to the left and stopping just above her dark blue eyes, wearing a large, puffy, white hat atop her head with blue frills and black accents, a short, thigh-length white dress with a pleated skirt and brown accents, with spaghetti straps that hung tightly to her body, showing her petite bust, a long, overly large white coat with fur trim along the collar, excessively long sleeves, and blue and black accents, much like her hat, a white and light brown ribbon wrapped around her right ankle, and white and blue sandals appeared on the screen.

"… Cute…" Jude mumbled.

* * *

 **And thus closes the third chapter of Virtual Nightmare: Sword Art Online. I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, be sure to post a review letting me know if you did. If you were confused, unsure, or just had questions about anything, leave a review and I will do what I can to address your concerns. If you did not enjoy it... sorry? Post a review if you must but might I suggest something you actually enjoy instead? That said, I look forward to seeing you all in the next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter IV**

 **Greetings and salutations my wonderful readers! I have returned with a brand new chapter of Virtual Nightmare: Sword Art Online! Hopefully everyone enjoyed the previous chapter, at least some of you did at least. I hope you all enjoy this chapter as well. Be sure to leave a review letting me know if you did. As usual, I would like to thank my coauthor Bakuto Masaki for all of his help with the story so far and in the future. Well, with that said let us get on to the reviewer responses!**

 **Emerald Rose nee Potter: I see. Well hopefully when you give your judgment it's positive.**

 **correnhimself316: Sometimes? He's hopeless most of the time. Yes it is. Infinity Moment? Yeah, their gameplay could be better. You will.**

 **Sonicdude8: Thanks, I thought it would be an interesting turn. Yep, his fists are what he uses best.**

 **demonfox2140: Very true. A couple years ago.**

 **Milla will make her appearance eventually, don't worry. They will. Hmm... I hadn't considered that. He'll definitely try.**

 **Fmwaver: My only answer is when I can.**

 **Well, nothing else to say here, that is all there is to respond to, so without further adieu, let us get on with the main event!**

* * *

"… Cute…" Jude mumbled as the brown-haired girl appeared on the screen.

"What do you want Neptune?" the girl asked in annoyance.

"Don't be so rude Blanc," Histoire muttered lightly.

Neptune grinned excitedly. "Simple Blanny! Love and Peace!"

"Otaku…" Jude grumbled with a face-palm.

"I see," Blanc noted. "Fine."

Jude blinked in surprise. "Just like that?"

"Yes. I've got other matters that are more important."

"Right. I assume you will arrive when it's set up."

"So be it," Blanc answered plainly before cutting the connection.

"Great. See you then." As the connection ended Jude sighed in relief. "Now that we've got that done, we'd better plan it."

"Ahem," Asuna interjected.

"Huh?"

"And what about the psycho?"

Jude blinked in thought before remembering the primary reason he was there and turned to Histoire urgently. "Oh right. The things happening in Aincrad."

Histoire tilted her head in confusion. "There's something happening in Grandpa's world Papa?"

"Grandpa?" Asuna mumbled in confusion.

"Ah crap…" Jude groaned.

"But the one who made SAO is… EHH?!"

Jude sighed heavily in exasperation. "Yes. Akihiko Kayaba was my father. Well, adoptive father."

"I see…"

"It's a… long story. And I can tell it later. So Histoire, think you can help?"

"Not really since I don't really know the current state there."

"Ah, then I'll explain."

* * *

Jude then proceeded to explain to Histoire the events that had transpired after Kazuto's avatar had gone out of control.

"Oh dear…" Histoire mumbled in horror.

"Wow…" Neptune added.

"Oh goodness…" Nepgear moaned.

Jude sighed in exasperation. "Yeah… Was hoping you could help. Maybe contact the Cardinals."

"The who?" Neptune asked.

"The Cardinals. Three AI's in charge of controlling SAO."

"Never heard of them."

"The Cardinals have little influence here," Histoire explained.

Jude nodded in understanding. "I know. But can you contact them?"

"I can try. But it's unlikely. Grandpa made this area completely separate from Aincrad."

"Damn…"

"And unfortunately it's hard to focus outside of Gamindustri with all the fighting going on."

"Right…" Jude sighed in exasperation. "Might as well make the most of this until you can."

"Party time!" Neptune cheered.

Strea nodded in agreement. "Yep! Let's get to work!"

* * *

Later that night, Jude sighed as he sat at a desk. "Hm…"

Neptune pouted as she leaned over his shoulder. "C'mon Judie! Eat pudding, don't write creepy stuff!"

Jude chuckled weakly as a drop of sweat fell down his cheek. "It's called work Neptune. And it's important that I do it."

"But it's ssoo boring!"

"Do you want peace?"

Neptune pouted in frustration. "That's no fair… what are ya doin' anyway?"

"Getting everything set up. Putting in requests for entertainers. Things like that."

Histoire interjected, "Vert will likely handle the entertainers part."

"Oh?" Jude rebutted.

Histoire pointed to a television showing a blue-haired woman singing.

Jude looked at the woman on the screen in thought. "Who's she?"

"5pb.," Histoire answered simply, resulting in Jude slamming his head against the desk. "Papa?"

"Sergio?" Asuna asked before shaking her head. "Er, Jude?"

"Please tell me that isn't her real name…" Jude begged desperately.

Histoire tilted her head in mild curiosity. "Well, no, it's just a stage name. Why?"

"There's a company in the real world called that."

"I see…

"Yeah."

"It seems that is a running theme."

"I see…"

"That aside, how are the preparations coming?"

"Good so far. Just need to pick who will be assigned as Neptune's personal security."

Neptune waved a hand dismissively. "Nah, I'm good!"

Jude frowned in frustration. "That's not a choice."

"It ain't?"

"You need a guard. Two at maximum. The other CPUs will be bringing two along with their Oracles and sisters."

Nepgear looked at him surprised. "You… seem to know this well."

"I know things. Have to when I take over dad's company."

Asuna furrowed her brow in confusion. "Wait, you're the heir to his company? But all the papers said he didn't have one."

Jude sighed in exasperation. "He kept me a secret from the entire world. And Camilla."

"Camilla?"

"Knightwalker. She's my sister. So, seen enough surprises yet?"

"Yeah…"

"Okay, let's decide the security detail."

* * *

Later on, Jude sat, looking over several papers when he raised an eyebrow in thought. "Huh."

"What's wrong?" IF asked.

"You being on guard detail."

"Why?"

"You just don't seem the type."

"Nep's a friend of mine and I want to protect her."

Jude nodded with a small chuckle. "Right. Right then."

"Is that a problem?"

"No. You just seem the kind that be behind the scenes."

"Maybe, but there's a lot of people out there that make profit from these constant wars. I doubt they'll just let this peace accord go down without a hitch."

"True. But…"

"What? There's something you're not telling me."

Jude sighed before shaking his head in exasperation. "Nothing."

"If you say so…"

"It's not good to lie," Compa said with a dangerous smile, directly behind Jude.

Jude jumped in fear. "Whoa! Holy cow! Don't do that!"

"What?" Compa asked in confusion.

Jude frowned in disbelief.

IF chuckled weakly. "She doesn't recognize how scary she is."

Jude replied, "Nurses are always scary. It's a job requirement."

"Guess you've had experience?"

"One of my aunts is a doctor."

"One?"

"Yes."

Asuna sighed in exasperation. "You're turning out to be a very strange boy…"

"Zip it, Yuki."

Asuna stiffened in shock. "Wait, how do you know my last name?"

"… Shit…"

"Jude… how do you know my name?"

"… Business party four years ago, November Twenty-Fourth."

Asuna blinked in thought before her eyes widened in realization.

Jude gulped with anxiety at the silence.

"Y – You were… that boy…" Asuna mumbled quietly.

Jude sighed. "Yeah… Good to see you remember."

"You look… different."

"Yeah… I grew up… Got my hair cut to."

Asuna remained silent for several moments, her face deeply red. "So does that mean… it's still set?"

"I guess…"

"What set?" Compa asked.

Asuna gulped before sighing heavily. "… Our wedding."

Neptune grinned excitedly. "I _knew_ you were the wife of God!"

Asuna stiffened and shook her head fervently. "N – No I'm not! W – Well not yet…"

Jude sighed and redirected, "L – Let's just get back to work."

"A – Agreed," Asuna mumbled.

* * *

Several hours passed before Jude leaned back in his chair with a sigh. "Okay, we've got the seating arrangements, decorations, and festivities all set up."

"What about food?" Compa asked.

"Pudding," Neptune urged.

Jude interjected, "No. There needs to be more than pudding. Catering from all four Nations should be provided."

Histoire explained, "The most popular food in Lowee is ice cream, in Leanbox it is burgers, and Lastation it is spiced chicken."

"Right then. We better get to work on getting the caterers then."

"Do any of us know any?" Compa asked.

Jude pulled a phonebook out of the desk he sat at and looked through it.

Asuna tilted her head in mild curiosity. "Huh? What are you doing?"

"Finding catering companies," Jude explained.

Histoire flattened her brow in disbelief.

"What?" Jude asked in confusion.

"Why didn't I think of that…?" Histoire mumbled.

"Your original job was to collect, store and process information. It'd probably take you three days to do anything else."

"Ah…"

"Got a point there," Neptune added.

"A – Anyway… I have the date for the event."

"Perfect," Jude answered before sighing heavily. "What a day…"

Asuna nodded in agreement as she sat next to him. "Yeah. So…"

"Huh?"

"You created this world huh?"

"It wasn't nearly as expansive when I first made it. Histoire and Rei really made it huge. Wait, Rei… Where _is_ she? Histoire!"

"Yes, Papa?" Histoire replied curiously.

"Get Rei over here!"

Histoire stiffened in worry. "… Um… About that…"

"Histoire…"

"She's… gone…"

Jude widened his eyes in disbelief. "What…?"

Asuna tilted her head in confusion. "Umm… Who is Rei?"

"One of the two AI's I made. She did creation, security and assault."

"Oh. Where is she then?"

Histoire sighed heavily. "She's… She's gone…"

"… How?" Jude demanded.

"She started to… go crazy," Histoire answered with a deep sigh.

Jude frowned somberly as he listened.

"Eventually it got to the point where people were dying because of her actions."

Jude groaned in frustration. "Just great… I assume you locked her away to ensure safety."

"I… tried. But she was too powerful."

Jude sighed and questioned, "What happened?"

"She was… put down…"

"… How?"

"Please…" Histoire begged.

Jude sighed in defeat before suddenly getting tackled in a hug by Neptune. "Gah!"

"Quit frownin'!" Neptune shouted.

"Neptune get off!" Jude grumbled.

"Then stop frowning!"

"I'm not frowning! I'm thinking!"

Neptune simply looked at him silently.

"What?"

"Something's poking me…" Neptune mumbled before Asuna hoisted her up by the collar. "Eh? What's up God Wife?"

"Stop straddling him," Asuna snarled. "And my name's Asuna."

"Okay, Asi."

Asuna twitched an eyebrow angrily before taking a deep, calming breath.

Jude turned his attention back to Histoire. "Is she always like this?"

"Unfortunately. She adopted Rei's… eccentricities…"

"How? Wait… oh boy."

"What oh boy?" Asuna asked.

"You split her programing up… didn't you…"

Histoire remained silent in worry.

"I see… This probably means she is out there somewhere with little to no memory."

Histoire again offered naught but silence.

"What?"

"There's no guarantee of that," Histoire answered slowly.

Jude stiffened in disbelief.

Neptune snarled and shouted, "Gah! Stop with the sad stuff!"

"H – Huh?" Jude mumbled.

"Come on!" Neptune urged before grabbing Jude and dragging him out of the room.

"I – I need to keep working Neptune!"

"It's too boring!"

"It needs to be dddooonnneee!" Jude begged as she dragged him out of the building.

* * *

Jude sighed as he walked down the sidewalk with Neptune. "You _do_ realize I need to go back and finish working right?"

"You've got all the time in the world for that!" Neptune shot back.

"No, I don't."

Neptune, ignoring him, pressed his arm between her cleavage and announced, "Well stop bein' a downer!"

Jude blushed as he felt her petite bosom wrap around his arm.

"Now let's go have some fun!"

"Where?"

"To a restaurant!"

* * *

Jude gaped slightly as they stood in front of a large building. "This… is a big place…"

Neptune nodded with a grin. "Yup! And has the best pudding!"

"You really like pudding, huh?"

"Yep! It's the best!"

"It's not bad, to me at least. I prefer ice cream or cake as a dessert."

"Mm… cake…"

Jude chuckled lightly. "… You're just a glutton aren't you."

"Yup!"

"… Anyway… I am really surprised that you're in charge of this Nation."

"Really?" Neptune asked.

"Yeah. You… don't seem the type."

Neptune shook her head in response. "I didn't choose. Just got it."

Jude frowned in silence, causing Neptune to look at him, puzzled.

"Judie?"

He shook his head before redirecting, "Nothing… come on, let's get something to eat."

"Right!" Neptune cheered.

* * *

Later that day, Neptune leaned back with a satisfied sigh. "Mmm… That was gggooooooddd."

Jude blinked in surprise. "Yeah… it was…"

Neptune tilted her head curiously. "What's wrong Judie?"

"Food shouldn't taste like anything in here."

"Huh? What do you mean? Food is food and food should taste good."

"It's… complicated. Anyway, how long have you been a CPU?" Jude asked before drinking from his water.

Neptune put a finger on her chin in thought. "Hmm… I think eight hundred years."

Jude spat his drink in shock. "Wh – What?! How is that possible?!"

"What?" Neptune rebutted.

"Being eight hundred _years_ old! I made the Hollow Area just two years ago!"

"Eh?"

Jude sighed in exasperation. "Nevermind. I'll interrogate Histoire later."

"Ooh, can I be bad cop?"

Jude flattened his brow in deadpan.

* * *

Later, Jude returned to the Basilicom and hollered, "Histoire!"

"Papa?" Histoire questioned in surprise as she floated towards him.

"How is Neptune eight hundred?!"

"Ah… I… kind of boosted the amount of processing power here greatly by using the internet to make time in here move faster than out there. So one day in the real world is roughly a year here."

Jude frowned in thought. "I see… Explains why the Hollow Area looks like this. And you used the gaming sites to make it."

"I… didn't actually have a hand in how things developed. It was spontaneous."

"Ah…"

"Though you have to admit it's rather amusing."

"Everything is game based."

"That's probably what I get for giving Rei internet access."

"Well… Creation was one of the things I programmed into her… She could've named things better though. Instead she named the Nations after game consoles."

Histoire chuckled lightly. "She was always… unique."

"And you aren't?"

"Didn't say I wasn't."

"True. Guess that's why the food here is so good too."

Histoire nodded in response. "Rei and I took a lot of time crafting the laws of this world."

"You made it remarkably realistic. Although I wonder…"

"Huh?" Histoire asked.

Jude poked the space in front of Histoire, causing a menu to appear in front of him.

"Papa?" Histoire questioned, tilting her head curiously.

Jude grinned before pushing a button, causing Histoire's book to suddenly snap shut, closing her inside, her muffled grunts of anger flowing out. He then hit another button, causing the book to snap back open, leaving Histoire panting in shock.

"Why…?" she mumbled.

Jude explained, "Seeing if I still have admin privileges here." Pushing another button, Histoire's outfit changed to a formal suit.

"Wh – What the…?!"

Jude blinked in surprise. "Huh. Looks nice on you."

Histoire blushed in embarrassment.

"Now… Let's see what else I can do… Maybe increase sizes…"

"E – Eh?!" Histoire gasped in shock.

"What?"

"I – Increase the size of what…?!"

Jude flattened his brow. "… Pervert. I meant make you taller. Not give you bigger breasts."

"O – Oh…"

"Though if you want me to I could try and increase your bust."

"N – No, that's okay."

"Right."

* * *

The next morning, Jude yawned as he sat on a sofa.

Nepgear remarked, "Okay, it seems everything is ready."

"Good to hear, cutie," Jude chimed, causing Nepgear's face to turn vibrant red.

"Wha – Wha – Wha…?!"

"Huh? What's wrong, Gear?"

Neptune interjected, "Nep Jr. doesn't handle compliments well. She's shy."

"That's cute."

Nepgear stiffened before fainting.

"… She'd be a great girlfriend…"

Neptune immediately stood between Jude and Nepgear, her arms raised. "Hands off! Nep Jr. isn't allowed to date until she's married!"

"So… I need to marry her to date her?"

"Uuhh…"

"Right… I'll be sure to do that."

Histoire chuckled in amusement and noted, "Neptune's slightly lacking upstairs."

"I know. Kind of fun to mess with her a little too."

"If you do it too much she might overload."

"Might jumpstart her cute li'l brain."

"Anyway, the accord is set for three days from now."

"Of course it's in three days."

"Is that a problem?"

"No, you're just keeping with your programming."

Histoire tilted her head in confusion.

* * *

The day of the accord arrived and Jude stood away from the main stage and looked over the thousands of chairs, organized into four blocks, around the large, square stage, each and every seat filled with thousands more people crowding around standing. "There are… a lot of people here. That's… good…"

Histoire looked at him curiously. "Papa?"

"Yeah Histoire?"

"You okay?"

"… Yes."

Histoire frowned suspiciously. "… Papa."

Jude sighed in exasperation. "I'm fine. As long as I don't have to talk in front of this crowd. And remain anonymous."

"I think the CPUs will handle this."

Jude nodded in hopeful. "Good. So… how's their security detail?"

"They're all skilled fighters."

"Right…"

Histoire's frown deepened. "Papa, there's something bothering you."

Jude sighed and was about to answer when Vert's voice behind him chimed, "My, my, you're even more handsome in person."

Jude gulped and turned to her with a mild blush, taking in her form even more.

Vert smiled playfully and took a step forward.

"Hey Vert…" Jude muttered weakly.

"Hey yourself," she noted huskily before stepping close to him, Jude gulping and stepping back slightly.

Neptune teased, "If you run it just excites her more."

Jude gulped weakly before seeing two more people behind Vert.

The first was a girl with long, bright red hair tied in a ponytail with a white ribbon, dark orange eyes, and fair skin, and she wore a skintight black top that exposed her midriff, a small breastplate overtop that, a red, short-sleeved jacket over that, red and white shorts with fur trim and a brown belt, brown gloves with fur trim, an orange pouch strapped to her leg, and short, red boots, staring at him suspiciously.

The second was a tall young woman with long red hair tied in shoulder-length pigtails with black ribbons attached to a white and red nurse cap, her fringe falling just above her bright, emerald eyes, her clothing consisting of a very revealing white and red dress with a black unitard underneath, her moderate bosom almost entire visible, and thigh-high black, gold, white, and red boots, standing silently.

Jude gulped slightly as all three gazed at him. "Y – Yes? How can I help you and your lovely bodyguards?"

"Now, now," Vert teased. "You don't need to be so formal. These are Falcom," she said motioning to the first girl, "and Cave," she added, motioning to the second woman. "As for you… Fufu, I was just wondering if we could get to know each other better."

Jude gulped, attempting to keep his composure. "Oh? H – How so?"

"Quit that thunder tits," Blanc chided as she approached the group.

Vert pouted in disappointment.

Jude looked at Blanc in awe in person. "… Cute… So… cute…"

"Huh?" Blanc muttered.

Jude blithely began patting her head softly.

Blanc looked up at his hand curiously, though not stopping him. "… What are you doing?"

"Petting you…" Jude muttered. "If you had cat ears you'd look like a cute kitten…"

Vert gaped in awe. "I – Is he petting Blanc…?"

"And she's _not_ killing him?" Neptune added. "… He truly _is_ God!"

Jude and Blanc remained silent before Jude stepped back in embarrassment, causing Blanc to pout subtly. "S – Sorry 'bout that Blanc."

Neptune grinned in amusement.

"So… where are your guards Blanc?"

Blanc explained, "I have Wac keeping an eye on RED."

IF paled in terror. "R – RED's here…?"

Jude tilted his head in mild confusion. "Umm… who's RED?"

A new, energetic, shrill voice shrieked, "Iffy! My wifey!" before IF was tackled by a crimson blur.

"Holy hell!" Jude gasped as he looked at the one who tackled IF, a short girl with a very childlike physique, that is, aside from her overly developed bust, outsizing Neptune's, with long hair tied in a wide ponytail on one side, one side of her bangs with a white accent, and dark grey eyes, wearing a long, black and red dress with a small opening just above her cleavage, a golden dragon wrapped around her waist.

IF groaned in irritation. "RED… get off!"

RED looked at Jude curiously. "Oooooohhh! Didn't know my wifey had a cute sister!"

Jude twitched an eyebrow. "… I'm a guy."

RED blinked in confusion. "… EH!?"

Jude growled with a tic mark. "Don't act so surprised!"

"But you're so cute and look like my wifey Iffy!"

IF moaned in frustration. "For the thousandth time I'm not!"

Blanc sighed in exasperation. "RED… Where's Wac…?"

RED turned to Blanc with a smile. "At the buffet!" She then turned back to IF. "And you are one of my wifeys!"

Blanc slapped a hand over her face in indignation. "How could I forget…?"

"Rather easily it would seem," Vert added.

RED then leant back on her legs and then pounced Jude to the ground.

"Gah!" Jude grunted.

"This Wifey is sturdy," RED noted in surprise.

"I'm a guy!" Jude argued desperately.

"If you say so Wifey."

Jude twitched an eyebrow in annoyance.

Noire sighed as she approached the group.

"Huh?" RED hummed as she saw the ravenette.

"Noire?" Jude muttered.

"Nowa!" Neptune cheered.

Noire nodded plainly to the group. "Blanc. Vert. Neptune."

Jude gulped lightly as he stood up and turned to her. "G – Good to see you Noire."

Noire looked at him curiously. "Huh? You're that boy… Jude the God…"

"I'm not a god…"

"Right…" Noire then blinked in thought as she looked over Histoire, the sprite still clad in a suit. "Why is Histoire in a suit?"

"Papa," Histoire chirped.

"Eh?"

Histoire then turned to Jude. "Papa?"

Jude blinked curiously. "Yes, Histoire? Oh, right." Jude opened another menu and returned Histoire to her regular dress.

"Thank you."

Noire gaped slightly in disbelief. "How…?"

"Admin privileges," Jude answered curtly.

"God," all four CPUs noted in unison.

"I am not God damn it!"

"Then explain that," Vert urged.

"Admin privileges."

"This isn't some video game."

Asuna snorted quietly in amusement.

Jude flattened his brow. "Don't. Just don't Asuna."

After a few moments, all four girls lit up brightly before it dispersed, showing them all to have changed drastically.

"… Beautiful…"

"Huh?" Purple Heart, Neptune's transformed state, which was significantly taller, with long purple hair that nearly reached her feet, braided in twintails and bright blue eyes with glowing white pupils, her outfit had also drastically changed to black, cross-shaped clips in her hair, a black bodysuit that exposed a large amount of her now very plentiful bust, white cross shapes on the shoulders, and multiple purple accents along the inner arms and near her thighs, along with thigh-high, high-heeled, black boots matching the bodysuit, she also had multiple black and purple devices floating around her head, shoulders, waist, and feet, along with large, glowing, purple wings made of energy.

"What's gotten into you?" Black Heart, Noire's transformed state, a woman with long, hip-length, wavy white hair, fair skin, and blue-green eyes with the same symbols as Neptune's, wearing a bodysuit that was largely black with white accents, with detached sleeves and thigh-high boots, along with a gap that exposed a fair amount of her moderate bust, with small mechanical sections floating near her shoulders, waist, head, and feet, and large white wings made of energy, retorted.

Jude shook his head. "N – Nothing. You all just look great."

Purple Heart blinked and replied, "Thanks. Also, why aren't you all dressed up to?"

"I'm staying in the back. I'm not going out there on that stage."

"But you set this up," White Heart, Blanc's transformed state, which was her same petite body with short, chin-length, messy, light blue hair, except for two long bangs that framed her face and extended to her hips, her eyes now red with the same symbol as the others, wearing a white, one-piece bodysuit that resembled a swimsuit, with light blue accents, bicep-length gloves with point black claws, hip-length white boots with pointed silver toes, large, squared, white and blue wings on her back, with many small white pieces of armor floating around her, remarked.

" _And_ you're God," Purple Heart added.

Jude sighed and replied, "And where I come from we always see God as operating from the background. So I'll be back where it's nice and comfortable."

Green Heart, Vert's transformed state, her same busty body with green hair tied in a ponytail, purple eyes, wearing a skimpy, white bodysuit that exposed much the underside of her sizable cleavage and much of her abdomen, shoulder-length white gloves with black accents, and thigh-high, white, high-heeled boots with black accents, frowned lightly.

Jude turned to her slightly. "What?"

Green noted, "Your hair's a little messy. Come here."

"Huh? Okay," Jude muttered before stepping forward, Green deftly wrapping his arm in her cleavage, causing him to gulp and blush in worry.

"Now, join us," Green urged.

"… I – I don't do speeches."

"Oh?"

"Y – Yeah… my aunt Kazehana is good at them though…"

"Now, now," she teased as Jude tried to back away. "You're not going anywhere, Jude."

White snarled. "Let him go, tits-for-brains. He obviously has no interest in giving a speech with the rest of us."

"But he's God though," Green argued. "And if he gives a speech with and weds us it will show true unity across the world."

"W – Wed?!" Jude gasped with abashment.

"But of course!"

Purple blinked with intrigue. "Ooh, sounds fun!"

Black blushed deep red as Jude remained silent.

"What?" Green asked.

"Whatever you're gonna do, do it fast!" IF urged.

Jude began pushing the four ladies out the door, Green pouting as he did.

"Aaww…" Green pouted.

"Now get to it!" Jude urged fervently.

"H – Hey!" Purple argued.

"Don't forget your lines!"

Purple sighed as the others made their way to platforms around the main stage before walking along catwalks towards the center. Purple formed a regal smile on her face and spoke loudly, "Heed my words, all those who make Gamindustri their home. This day represents the first step into a new era, and I am thrilled that you and I are able to greet it together."

Jude nodded nervously as he watched from the back of the stage. "Good so far."

"Welcome to the next level."

Jude frowned slightly. "That wasn't on the script."

Purple continued. "As I'm sure you know, in the past years this fantasy star of ours has been plagued with constant war."

A large bead of sweat fell down Jude's face in disbelief. "Is she seriously making video game references?"

As the four approached the center of the platform, Black pulled off the cloak over her shoulders, displaying her dress to all.

"Beautiful…" Jude muttered.

Asuna frowned slightly.

Purple continued her words. "Lastation, ruled by the Goddess Black Heart."

Black smirked as she reached the central stage with Purple, White also arriving.

Jude smiled slightly as White walked up to the others. "Cute, even in Goddess form." This resulted in said Goddess shooting him a glare.

Motioning to White, Purple declared, "Lowee, ruled by the Goddess White Heart."

Green then approached the central stage with a smirk, her chest bouncing with each step.

Jude gulped in response, Asuna twitching an eyebrow.

"Leanbox, ruled by the Goddess Green Heart."

Green, along with the others, then stepped on glowing platforms at the stage's center.

"And last but not least, Planeptune, ruled by yours truly, Purple Heart."

Jude nodded apprehensively. "Good so far…"

"Our kingdoms have vied for Share Energy, the source of a nation's strength."

The platforms the four stood on then began to rise into the air, large screens floating above projecting her face to the crowd as she spoke.

"But thanks to one being, we have decided to end the bloodshed over them and find a new path."

Jude blinked in bewilderment before looking through his notes. "… What? That's not part of the script. Wait… she's not going to bring me into this… is she?"

Purple then motioned to one of the many large screens hovering above, on which Jude's face was projected.

The teen went white with horror. ' _Oh no…_ '

"Our creator!" Purple announced proudly.

Jude trembled in disbelief as he looked at his projection. ' _Must… resist… urge… to facepalm…_ '

Purple, as though nothing had happened, continued. "And on occasion, even the Goddesses ourselves have to come blows in this fruitless struggle. But no more. The Friendship Treaty we will all sign today will ban all taking of shares with military force. From now on, we will increase our own Shares by improving our beloved countries."

The four then walked off the floating platforms towards a much larger platform at the direct center of the area above the stage.

"And fostering a healthy development of the entire world."

Jude sighed in exasperation as he watched.

The four CPUs then put their hands together as light began to swirl around them. In unison, they declared, "We hereby vow to overcome our past, and create a world of hope so that all people may prosper, as long as we win."

"Good," Jude sighed in relief.

The four then descended to the ground before Green ran towards the back room behind the stage.

"Eh?" Jude muttered before Green showed up and grabbed his arm. "H – Hey! What are you doing!?" Jude shouted as she dragged him to the central stage.

Purple smiled and motioned to Jude proudly. "And we present to you, our creator!"

"H – Hey!"

The crowds gasped in shock at him.

Jude remained motionless before smiling weakly and waving to the gathered crowd. ' _I have no idea what I'm supposed to do!_ '

Green leaned close and whispered with a smile, "Just follow along."

"R – Right…"

Green then stepped forward to address the crowd. "This is our creator, Jude Mathis. Neptune likes to refer to him as God."

Jude twitched an eyebrow in annoyance.

"And it's thanks to him that we were able to form this treaty."

Jude gulped as the crowd remained silent before erupting in applause.

Green then smirked slyly before declaring loudly, "Also, we will all henceforth be his wives alongside his first, Asuna!"

Black, White, and Asuna all gaped in disbelief. "WWHHAATT!?"

Jude shot a look at Asuna that obviously said "If I'm being worshipped I'm taking you down with me," causing her to pale in disbelief.

"Wh – When did we agree to this!?" Black shouted.

"Is it a problem?" Green asked with a smirk.

"Yes! A very big one!"

"How? It shows complete unity with us all."

"I see your point," Purple noted.

White huffed in derision. "Stupid."

Green smirked in amusement. "What? The Creator would be the only husband for us anyway."

"You say that like I need one."

"Oh? You have one? Or did you marry Mina?"

"I don't _need_ one!"

Green grinned and retorted, "Then we'll just have to visit us and not you then."

White twitched an eyebrow angrily. "You damn Thunder Tits!"

"So you _do_ want him too?"

White growled with rage, though before she could make a rebuttal, Jude interrupted. "Enough," he demanded bluntly, causing the duo to stiffen and turn to him in surprise. "Good. You two can bicker after the ceremony, in private."

* * *

Shortly later, the group all stood in a large dining hall, Jude and the CPUs on a balcony overlooking the city of Planeptune.

Jude groaned and then turned to Green. "Okay. What. The. Hell? What were you thinking, Vert!?"

"What do you mean?" Green asked with a slightly amused smile.

"Dragging me out there and doing all that, PerVert!"

"Ooh, I like that."

Jude merely sighed in exasperation then looked out over the balcony to the city below. "This place looks so different at night. It's… beautiful…"

Purple nodded in agreement before sighing in relief as she was engulfed in light, which died down to reveal Neptune jumping with joy. "Whoop dee woo! We did it!"

The others just sighed in exasperation before Black commented, "And now you're a bite-sized idiot again. Honestly…" she grumbled before reverting to Noire. "It's amazing how idiotic you are sometimes."

"Tell me about it…" Asuna grumbled with a glass of wine.

Jude sighed and remarked, "Hopefully this brings an end to your fighting."

"Yep!" Neptune chirped.

"Now, as much I've… enjoyed, I suppose, my time here, I need to get back to Aincrad."

Histoire frowned slightly in concern.

"Histoire?"

"Um… there… might be… a problem…" the bite-sized girl muttered slowly.

Jude gained a deep, suspicious frown. "… Wwhhyy…?"

"Lack of Shares…"

"… Great…"

"You can't be serious!" Asuna wailed in disbelief.

"I am…" Histoire answered shamefully.

"Wonderful…" Jude groaned heavily.

"Yep!" Neptune cheered.

"Not!"

"Aaww…"

"So we need to increase Shares to the point Asuna and I can go home."

"Yes," Histoire nodded in agreement, causing Neptune to pout in despair. Histoire noticed this and frowned deeply. "It's to help Father, I'm sure you can manage that much, Neptune."

"Ffiinnee…" Neptune agreed begrudgingly.

Jude slumped his shoulders in dismay. "… Something tells me we won't be leaving for a very long time…"

"Yeah…" Asuna agreed in disbelief.

* * *

The next day, Jude groaned as he sat in the Basilicom's main lounge with Asuna. "Now what…? Maybe… train?"

"How do we do that?" Asuna asked.

Jude shrugged slightly. "If we find some Mobs around we might be able to earn some XP for killing them. Meaning we should get stronger before we return."

"Right… Guess we don't have a choice."

"Ooh, ooh!" Strea gasped as she ran up to them, her melons bouncing with each step. "Can I come?!"

"Sure."

* * *

"Good grief…" Jude groaned as he, Asuna, and Strea wandered the countryside. "You'd think there'd be monsters _somewhere_."

"Yeah…" Asuna muttered as she looked around.

Strea added, "Most Monsters appear in only designated areas around the cities."

"… Where?" Jude questioned.

Strea turned and pointed to an area on a map that all four nations connected to in the center, with a variety of landscapes ranging from a beach, to a vast forest, to a floating castle with a giant orb floating in the center. "It's called the Gamindustri Graveyard. If you want a real challenge then the monsters there would be the strongest."

"… I like breathing."

Strea tilted her head in mild confusion. "Huh? What's that mean?"

"I _don't_ want to be easily and horribly mutilated."

"Ah. Well we can probably find some weaker monsters on the outskirts of the cities. They've been increasing in number lately."

"Good to know. Then let's head there first."

"Right. Follow me you two," Strea urged as she walked ahead, her hips swaying with her steps.

Asuna twitched an eyebrow as she saw Jude blush and gulp nervously.

* * *

"Is this the place?" Jude asked as the trio entered a small forest with a winding path and a river cutting through the center.

Strea nodded with an excited smile. "Yup! Virtua Forest. This is actually where Neptune met Compa."

"I see," Jude noted as he looked around before seeing a large, blue, gel-like creature with canine features. "The hell is that…?"

Asuna squealed at the creature. "Aw… so cute!"

Strea frowned and wagged a finger in front of Asuna. "That's a Dogoo, don't let it deceive you, they're nasty."

Asuna was already patting the creature happily.

The Dogoo looked at her curiously before howling and jumping on her, pinning her to the ground.

"Eh? H – Hey! Get off!"

The Dogoo howled once more as it began to melt, ensnaring her.

"Hey!" Jude growled and charged at the monster. However, he stopped when it released a loud, vibrant howl. "Huh?" Almost immediately, numerous more Dogoos emerged from the nearby forest. "… This could be a problem…"

"H - Hey! It's getting in my coat!"

"Then take it off!" Strea urged as she kicked a Dogoo away.

Asuna's face turned fluorescent red. "Are you crazy!? I don't have anything on under it!"

"… Well, the only ones here are your husband and me."

Jude spun and knocked several Dogoos away. "Well do something before these things drain your HP!"

"Unfortunately, that's not her biggest problem."

"What?" the two asked in unison.

"These things like to… explore…"

Jude twitched an eyebrow before shouting to the sky. "… DAD YOU PERVERT…!"

Asuna flipped through a menu quickly, causing her clothing to vanish and the Dogoo to slide off, readying her rapier.

Jude also flipped through a menu before raising his fists. "There… now to kill these things…"

"Right!" Asuna shouted with an angered blush.

Jude charged at the beasts as one of his fists lit up bright indigo before he rushed forward at great speed, the monster dissolving into a mist of particles.

Asuna spun and jabbed her rapier numerous times, knocking several Dogoos into the air at which point her weapon lit up violet before unleashing a powerful series of thrusts, filling the monsters with holes before they dissolved.

Strea reached a hand out at which point a massive purple sword with a curved, rather than a pointed, end appeared in her grasp, lit up bright yellow, and she spun on her heels, a powerful blast of sparks flying in all directions as she sliced the Dogoos around her to fritters.

Asuna sighed in relief as the last Dogoo died before hurriedly putting her clothes back on with the menu. "Finally…"

"You alright, Asuna?" Jude asked in worry.

Asuna stiffened and looked away with embarrassment. "Y – Yeah…"

"Good… Strea!" he shouted with anger.

"Yes?" the lavender-haired beauty asked with befuddlement.

"Why didn't you tell us there were disgusting monsters like that here!?"

Strea tilted her head in confusion. "I assumed the monsters in Gamindustri and Aincrad were the same."

Jude's eyebrow twitched furiously. "How did Gamindustri come to exist in the first place? I know I made the Hollow Area as a way to test out new ideas, but I assumed Dad scrapped it when SAO launched fully."

"You'd have to ask Histoire."

"I see… Well I'll leave that for later. For now, we should do some leveling. Let's just… try and use less creepy monsters."

"Sure. Lowee has the least creepy cannon fodder. If you count walking shitake mushrooms with eyes, arms, and legs less creepy."

Jude nodded in understanding. "They have those in Aincrad, so it's fine."

* * *

Soon, Strea, Asuna, and Jude walked through a snow-covered expanse and Asuna saw a small creature that resembled a tiny mushroom with feet. "I've never seen a Goomba in Aincrad…"

Jude twitched an eyebrow as he watched the creatures walk around. "… Okay, all the enemies here are some weird kind of adorable. Was this place designed by a twisted child?"

Strea, without missing a beat, looked at Jude and stated flatly, "You made Histoire, supposedly."

Jude slumped his shoulders in shame. "I was bored and lonely. Don't judge me."

Asuna snorted quietly, with Jude shooting her a glare.

"I heard that."

"So? It was funny."

Jude pouted with a red face and turned to the mushroom monsters. "L – Let's just fight these guys…"

Asuna smiled in amusement before redirecting. "Hey, Jude, can I ask you something?"

His pout disappeared after a moment and he nodded. "Huh? Sure."

"Earlier when we were fighting the… those dog things, you did something with your menu. What was it?"

"Oh. I toggled the Ethics Code on."

"The… what?"

"It's… complicated. But it basically mimics the censor laws Japan has."

"Ah."

"It's basically so I didn't… see anything."

"I see…"

Strea raised an eyebrow in thought. "Sounds like R-18 Island."

Jude frowned incredulously. "… Do I even _want_ to know what that is?"

"Best adult vacation spot in all of Gamindustri. Unfortunately it's also the location of that damned censorship moss."

"… I'm going to pretend that all makes sense and move on to smashing walking mushrooms."

"Just remember, you're this world's main god."

"A god makes his people, he doesn't control what they do."

"I mean you had a hand in what exists here."

"No I didn't," he denied flatly.

"You made Histy."

"She made everything else."

"And you made her."

"But _she_ made everything else."

"Still, you made her."

Asuna could no longer hold in her laughter at the duo's back and forth.

Jude grumbled in embarrassment.

* * *

Asuna stabbed through another in a long line of the mushrooms before looking at her character information and leapt with joy. "Yay! My level went up!"

Jude nodded in affirmation with a smile. "Good to hear, Asuna."

Strea pouted and grabbed Jude's arm tightly, sinking it in the valley of her breasts. "Hheeyy… my level went up too."

Jude frowned incredulously. "… I seriously doubt that. You're probably a higher level than both of us combined."

"So? Doesn't mean I didn't gain at least a little XP."

Jude grumbled silently.

After a moment, Asuna questioned, "So how long do we want to be out here?"

"Until we get tired."

Asuna nodded before smirking as she readied her rapier. "Works for me."

* * *

Several hours passed as the trio killed more of the creatures. However, as Jude took out another group of them he heard a loud scream nearby. "The hell?"

"That sounded like a little girl," Asuna noted in concern.

Strea frowned deeply. "That sounded like Rom."

"Who?" Jude asked in concern.

"One of Blanc's little sisters."

"Right, then let's get going."

* * *

The trio raced to the source of the voice and saw a young girl with shirt brown hair wearing a long, light blue and white outfit running from several pixel-like monsters.

Asuna gaped in mild disbelief. "Are those…?"

"They are…" Jude agreed in exasperation.

Strea, seemingly not noticing the others' exasperation, explained, "They're called Pixelvaders. Rom isn't in any actual danger from them, but I doubt she knows that."

"Well… let's go save her."

"Right."

Rom continued sprinting from the bouncing, cartoonish creatures before she tripped on a rock.

Jude instantly shot forward as one of the Pixelvaders jumped at the girl and slammed his fist into its center, causing it to shatter into pixels.

Rom looked up at him in surprise. "H – Huh? You're…"

"You alright?"

"Y – Yeah…"

Jude sighed in relief and then turned as Strea lazily batted the Pixelvaders with her sword, killing them in one blow each. "Boring…"

Rom watched woman curiously before looking up at Jude. "Hey… you're Blanc's boyfriend, right?"

"Eh?" he mumbled.

"During the speech, you said you were her boyfriend."

"… Eh?"

Asuna sighed and added, "That is what that crazed blonde said."

"Oh…" the girl muttered in confusion. "So… you're not?"

"No," he answered bluntly.

"Oh…" she mumbled before frowning. "I thought we had a big brother… I even picked some flowers to give you…"

Jude stiffened as sweat fell down his neck. ' _This… is bad…_ '

Strea then interjected, "Yeah, he's her husband, not her boyfriend."

"There's… a difference?" the girl asked in confusion.

"Yep!"

"… Okay…?" she mumbled in bewilderment.

"Yep, it means he's part of your family completely."

The little girl's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Yay…" Jude groaned.

Strea grinned slyly as Rom ran up to Jude. "Hey, hey, Big Brother, this way!"

Jude nodded and followed behind. "Sure."

Asuna sighed and then chuckled lightly. "Well, I guess staying here will at least never be boring."

* * *

Jude and the other two spent several hours following Rom around as she showed them various sights in the small, snow-covered area until the sun began to fall over the horizon.

Rom blinked in surprise as the sky turned vibrant shades of red. "Wow… it got dark fast…"

"Yeah…" Jude muttered in realization.

Strea smiled and knelt down to Rom. "Alright, Rom, why don't you run back to the Basilicom? The rest of us need to return to Planeptune."

Rom looked at the lavender-haired woman with a pout.

Jude walked up to the girl and patted her shoulder gently. "Hey, Asuna, Strea, and I have to do some more training, so we'll probably come by here tomorrow, okay?"

"R – Really, Big Brother?"

Jude replied with a nod and a smile before opening his inventory. "Yup." After a moment, a small, red and green gem appeared in his hand which he gave to Rom. "Here, that's really important to me. So now, I have to come back here to get it back."

Rom nodded with a big smile. "Okay!"

* * *

Shortly later, as the trio made their way back to Planeptune, Strea giggled lightly at Jude. "Fufu, that monster drop is completely worthless."

Jude shrugged and rebutted, "She doesn't need to know that. Besides, the amount of money you get from selling something isn't the only metric of worth. Right now that gemstone represents my promise."

"I see."

"You certainly seem to know your way around kids," Asuna commented.

"Do I? Huh… must be because I used to have little sisters…"

"Huh? Used to?"

"Yeah…" he answered, his eyes growing overcast.

"Did something happen to them…?"

"Yes…"

Strea frowned in disappointment. "Let's not discuss this. Let's talk about something happier. Like what you and Jude will wear in the wedding."

"Right…"

Asuna looked down with her face reddening deeply.

"Along with the weddings to the four CPUs," Strea added.

Jude's face turned red with a deep gulp.

* * *

As the trio returned to the Planeptune Basilicom, Neptune saw Jude walk in and leapt at him. "Judie's back!" she exclaimed as she tackled him in a tight hug.

"Gah! Neptune!"

Nepgear ran up to the two in concern. "Oh goodness, J – Jude! Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine… just… get your sister off me…"

Nepgear reacted instantly and grabbed a cup of pudding from the fridge and opened it, causing Neptune to stop hugging Jude and sit up before looking around. "Pudding?" Her eyes locked on the cup in Nepgear's hands. "PUDDING!" Neptune then launched herself at Nepgear, the girl dropping the pudding cup and dodging the crazed Goddess' charge.

"Yikes… she really loves pudding…" Jude muttered in shock as Neptune devoured the pudding cup.

"Yeah…" Histoire sighed in agreement.

* * *

Later, Jude sat on a sofa with Histoire floating nearby. After a moment of thought, he addressed the pixy directly. "So… how did this world develop, Histoire?"

"Huh?" she muttered, pulled from her thoughts as she looked at him.

"I mean, how did it change so much from the original Hollow Area?"

Histoire sighed heavily. "Oh… that's… a long story."

"I've got time."

"Right. Well, after you left the Hollow Area, people started appearing."

"NPCs?"

"Sort of?"

"What?" he asked, craning his neck to one side in confusion.

"They're marked as NPCs, but their patterns are… real. If you talk to them, I doubt you'd realize they aren't actual people in this world."

"True…"

"I'm not sure how it happened, but those people with those advanced AIs showed up. Rei was fine with it as it was at first, but after a while she noticed that these people were far too weak to handle the monsters wandering around the Hollow Area. So she came up with a plan. She had me access the internet and gather information so she could create new lands for them to inhabit with weaker monsters roaming through them."

"Well… that explains all the gaming references. But what happened to Rei herself?"

"You need only look at the CPUs to see that."

"That's not exactly what I'm asking. I kind of assumed she became the CPUs, but why? How?"

Histoire sighed heavily. "She lost her mind."

"What? How?"

"I have no idea… a virus maybe. I tried sealing her but the process took too long. In the end, five of Gamindustri's inhabitants decided to help me. The Four Heroes and Arfoire."

"I see…"

"Arfoire's unique skill was her ability to drain power from others. The plan was for her to drain enough for me to seal Rei."

"Something tells me they had other ideas."

Histoire nodded with a regretful frown. "Yes. You see… before this, as her insanity grew, Rei became… ruthless."

"… What…?"

She changed completely. At first, she saw it as her duty to make the lives of her people as good as possible. But over time this changed to her seeing it the other way around. Their job to make her life good."

"That's strange. I designed her to create and protect, as well as destroy harmful data."

"I remember well. I don't know what caused this change, but by the end the populace feared her and saw her as worse than the monsters inhabiting the Hollow Area. So when Arfoire and her companions came face-to-face with their oppressive queen… they decided it time to take revenge."

Jude sighed heavily in exasperation.

"As her last wish Rei split her power into four pieces and asked me to take care of them."

"Well that explains Neptune and the others."

"Unfortunately, when Arfoire drained Rei's power she also drained whatever it was that had driven Rei insane and went mad herself, killing her four comrades."

"I see…"

"And then after that she vanished, so I have no idea where she's gone."

"I'm guessing Rei vanished as well rather than outright dying?"

"Correct."

"Right, meaning she might still be alive."

"That's possible as well."

After a moment, Jude put a hand on his chin in consideration. "Hm…"

"Yes?"

"Just wondering if there is a central processor I can use to see if I still have full Admin Privileges."

Histoire tapped a finger on her cheek as she mulled the question over. "The only one I know of is the Administration Area in the core of the Hollow Area."

"The one Rei was linked to for easy access. And getting there will be hard." He ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. "Great… guess I'd better start leveling."

* * *

Jude groaned as he woke up in one of the Basilicom's beds, noticing a weight on his chest. ' _Why do I feel so heavy…?_ ' He attempted to sit up but became instantly aware that the weight on top of him was a person. Grabbing the comforter, he raised it to see Neptune fast asleep on him. He stared in disbelief for a moment before sighing and pinching her nose.

The girl stiffened before coughing due to lack of air, inevitably waking herself up.

"Why are you here?" he questioned as she sat up, straddling him.

"You looked comfy," she answered plainly with a playful smile.

"Ah… so… can you get off me?"

The Goddess pouted in disappointment. "But comfy…"

Jude twitched an eyebrow before both were drawn towards a familiar voice.

"Well now…" Asuna noted with a judgmental frown at the two.

"A – Asuna?" Jude blurted out in scared surprise.

"Hey Asi!" Neptune greeted with an oblivious smile.

"Well you two sure are close," Asuna said bitingly.

"I barely know her," Jude answered bluntly.

"The way she's straddling you like that says otherwise."

Jude flattened his brow in frustration before looking at Neptune. "… Neptune, get off. Please."

Neptune pouted and began bouncing where she sat with a small tantrum. "But it's comfy…!"

Jude's face turned red as she did, though Asuna grabbed a small pebble from a display nearby and held it tightly before it turned a bright pink.

"Eh?"

Asuna arched her arm back and then sprung it forward, sending the pebble flying at lightning speed, nailing Neptune square in the forehead, sending her tumbling to the floor.

"Owie!"

"… Was that really necessary?" Jude muttered.

Asuna folded her arms with a frown. "Yes it was, in order to get her off of you."

"Right…"

"We have somewhere to be, remember?"

"We do? Where?"

"You have a present to collect."

"Huh? … Oh crap! Rom!" Jude leapt out of bed and rushed out, leaving Asuna to sigh in frustration.

Neptune sat up, rubbing her forehead in pain. "What about Rommy?"

"He promised to meet her after yesterday."

"Really? Can I come?"

"Last I checked, you have work to do."

"Already done!"

"I see… I guess it's fine…"

Jude stumbled back into the room, huffing. "Okay… I'm ready…"

* * *

 **And this brings the fourth chapter of Virtual Nightmare: Sword Art Online to a close. Hopefully everyone enjoyed the chapter, so be sure to post a review letting me know if you did. If you were confused, unsure, or simply had questions on anything let me know with a review and I will do what I can to address your concerns. If you did not enjoy the chapter, post a review if you must, but might I suggest you do something you actually enjoy instead? Anyway, with all that said, I have nothing else to add here, so until the next chapter, bye-bye!**


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